Landslides: Grim reality of urbanisation & loss of urban green cover

Multiple landslides in the Guwahati hills have killed five more people, injuring several others, within days of the monsoon onset. Landslides have become an increasing scar on the hills of Guwahati. Every monsoon, hills crumble and homes are buried under debris, leading to cries of disaster. Much of it has been due to government apathy towards illegal encroachments and the long-neglected science of soil conservation. The first landslide in Guwahati was reported in the year 1972, from the Nabagraha hill, and subsequently, a sharp increase in the frequency of landslide occurrences was observed. During the 1980s and as well as in the 90s, landslides were reported eight times in each decade. In the following decade, it increased to 23. A study by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority had noted that because of unscientific construction activities and slope cutting, natural slopes are locally altered to more than 60 degrees to almost vertical, especially in terrains where soil thickness is higher. These unscientific anthropogenic activities are one of the direct mechanical causes of landslides in the city. Construction of retaining walls in an unscientific way without weep holes and with faulty infillings also went on unabated. The unscientific construction activities on the hills worsened the surface runoff and sub-surface drainage, especially during times of high precipitation. The disaster management authority had identified 366 vulnerable areas in the city.

The Guwahati metropolitan area has been witness to rapid urbanisation, causing large-scale land cover loss, and enforcing substantial pressure on the urban forests and hills within the landscape. Encroachments in the hilly regions have grown unchecked, emboldened by a lax administrative approach and political indifference. A not-so-old study found a nearly 50 per cent decline in dense forest and moderately dense forest, while non-forest areas grew 12-fold during 1976-2018. Much of the latter’s proliferation was compensated by a decline in open and scrub forests. The metropolitan area is now left with only 11 per cent of severely fragmented dense forests and consistently increasing non-forest land use. Both protected and non-protected forests sustained substantial forest loss and fragmentation since forest cover was reduced by 21.7 and 28.5 per cent respectively and their patch sizes were halved, reflecting the dismal state of ostensibly protected reserve forests in and around the city, usually crammed with informal settlements occupied by the urban poor. The study had identified the priority areas, which required immediate attention from planners and administrators. Despite ample warnings by different studies, policy responses remain reactionary, not preventive. Soil conservation efforts, eviction drives, afforestation initiatives and awareness campaigns have been more about optics than impact. A toxic blend of short-term political gains, bureaucratic inertia, and lack of public accountability has brought the situation to such a pass. The hills are speaking and the cries of disaster are getting louder.