Flood-free Guwahati

Rainwater coming from the Meghalaya and surrounding hills has caused major devastation of the roads and drains, heavy siltation and the tremendous problem of water logging in Guwahati

It was in July this year that the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) launched "Mission Flood Free Guwahati" to mitigate the urban artificial flood in Guwahati in coordination with all the allied departments and stakeholders. The four particular departments which were named to accomplish this Mission are GMC, Water Resources Department, PWD and GMDA. Surprisingly, the list does not include the Kamrup (Metro) district administration and the Kamrup (M) District Disaster Management Authority. According to the existing website of the Guwahati Development Department, rainwater coming from the Meghalaya and surrounding hills has caused major devastation of the roads and drains, heavy siltation and the tremendous problem of water logging in Guwahati. Some localities get inundated and remain under water for several days in the 3 to 4 waves, which also damage existing infrastructure including the government properties and properties belonging to the taxpayers. The authorities have admitted that rapid urbanization with increased housing and construction activities has led to an increase in the number of buildings, streets and other impervious hard surfaces, and more importantly the decrease in the number of inland wetland pockets and clogging of drainage systems. This in turn has led to indiscriminate flooding. That citizens throw garbage in drains, rivers, streams and wetlands of the city is an old story, with the authorities failing to evolve any mechanism to motivate the people to check this. Taxpayers are convinced that massive encroachment on the city's hills, wetlands and water channels is the second biggest culprit after the inefficient authorities. There has been no effort on the part of the authorities concerned to look for innovative ideas, to involve the citizens in general and the huge army of the city's school and college students, and to adopt punitive measures to mitigate the urban flood problem of Guwahati. That there is a total lack of coordination is evident from the list of city localities which have been affected by urban floods in Guwahati in the statement made in the last session of the State Assembly by the concerned minister. Names of many localities in which residents were forced to remain confined for several days due to floods, did not figure in that list.

sentinel