The All Assam Students' Union today queered the pitch for the speedy execution of the anti-erosion works by the Brahmaputa Board to protect the geographical area of Majuli. Office-bearers of All Jorhat District Students' Union (AJDSU) have also expressed serious displeasure over the nature of work done by the central agency, entrusted with the task of controlling floods and erosion in the river island, so far. If anything disastrous happens on the island during the forthcoming rainy season, the Brahmaputra Board will be solely responsible for it, they maintained. The AASU activists warned that the student body would force the Board to leave the island if the twin problems of floods and erosion are not controlled effectively any longer. AJDSU president Biren Saikia told reporters here this afternoon that the Brahmaputra Board has delivered nothing during the last four years that it has been working in the island. Mincing no words, he accused the Chief Engineer, Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineer of the Board of forming a nexus with contractors to siphon off the huge funds granted by the Centre for the protection of Majuli. Most of the works under the first and second phases of the ambitious anti-erosion project have remained half-done, he alleged. A whopping Rs 41 crore out of the sum of Rs 86 crore earmarked for the protection of the river island has literally flowed down the Brahmaputra with almost no results to show on the ground, Saikia said. Despite the visits of Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and State Water Resources Minister Bharat Chandra Narah to Majuli last year, the anti-erosion work has been progressing at a slow rate. The AJDSU president also expressed his reservations over the fate of the five schemes for installation of RCC porcupines at Bessamara, Kamalabari, Bhakat Chapori-Pokimuri, Bengenati and Sumoimari-Bhogpur sanctioned in March this year. A sum of Rs 4.99 crore has been allotted for the work. "Despite the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner's claim in April to the effect that the schemes have already got under way, we have verified that the work has started only recently,' Saikia maintained. The execution of the schemes to meet their respective deadlines is not possible in the next two months in the face of the onset of the monsoon season, he argued. Though the Chief Minister had announced in September last year that the State Water Resources Department and the Brahmaputra Board would work together to protect the island, there was no immediate manifestation of such cooperation, Saikia added. AASU assistant general secretary Nilofar Rahman, who was also present at the press conference, pointed out that the master plan prepared by the Brahmaputra Board for the protection of the geographical area of Majuli was itself erroneous as it did not include south and lower parts of the island. He called for a new strategy on the part of the Brahmaputra Board to control floods and erosion. AJDSU general secretary Dhrubajyoti Hazarika flayed the alleged inaction on the local MP and MLA with regard to the issue.