Guwahati makes work permit from Disaster Management mandatory for road excavation
A portal was launched to effect inter-department coordination & transparency in road projects;
Guwahati, July 22: All road excavation work in Guwahati must now have a work permit from the Disaster Management Department before starting.
Announcing the move at Janata Bhawan on Tuesday, Urban Affairs Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah said that concerned departments will first issue No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to the agencies, following which they must obtain a work permit before undertaking any road excavation in the city.
Mallabaruah also said that a strict monitoring mechanism will be in place to ensure compliance with the rules and timely completion of projects. “Failure to comply could lead to legal action,” he warned.
“Each project must be finished within a set time. Roads cannot be left dug up for long periods. If guidelines are not followed, a case may be filed under the Disaster Management Act,” the Minister said.
To improve coordination and bring transparency to all road-related work in the district, the Kamrup Metro District Administration has launched a dedicated online portal — Path Samanway (pathsamanway.assam.gov.in).
The integrated platform is designed to help different departments work together more efficiently while allowing citizens to track the status of road excavation in their areas.
“It’s often unclear when a project is actually completed. Now, we will have a closure permit system. Once the work is done, a closure certificate will be issued,” Urban Affairs Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah said.
The portal will also make the application process fully online. Mallabaruah said time limits will be set for processing requests: “Emergency applications - such as pipe burst - will be cleared within 24 hours, while other cases will be handled in 7 to 15 days.”
He added that the system will be implemented on a trial basis in Guwahati. “If it works well here, we will expand the model across Assam,” the Minister said.