A truck stuck on a waterlogged highway in Guwahati’s Jorabat on Friday. (AT Photo)
The recurring flash floods that continue to devastate the city calls for a rethink on the haphazard development process that has the State capital in its choking stranglehold. While it is highly imperative to put in place efficient drainage, no less urgent is to protect the city’s natural environment, especially its wetlands and forested hills. Even more than that, we need to reclaim some of the lost natural space that had been acting as natural storm water reservoirs, i.e., the wetlands. Similarly, the forested hills have also lost much of their water-retention capacity in the face of growing encroachment, and the authorities need to act firmly not just to check further erosion of the city’s much-needed natural space but also to free those from encroachment.
The ongoing eviction drive at the Silsako Beel is a welcome intervention that can put a new lease of life in the once-sprawling wetland that had borne the brunt of large-scale encroachment. Shockingly, the perpetrators of this human vandalism on the pristine water-body were not just the land-hungry citizenry but the State government as well, with the later allowing the setting up of a number of offices, institutions, hotels, etc., on the wetland in brazen disregard of established rules and norms.
Even while welcoming the eviction drive, none would deny the urgency of fixing responsibility for the shocking violation of laws by the government authorities themselves in allowing public and private structures to defile the wetland. The permission-granting authorities such as GMC, GMDA, and the Guwahati Development Department, together with the then Minister holding the portfolio are singularly responsible for the violations and must be made accountable.
Unfortunately, we never get to see any strict action being taken on these perpetrators and this is a major reason why the perverse trend persists. Another aspect that will not miss any discerning observer concerns the selective approach of the government in acting tough on the encroachers. A portion of the Bondajan channel was recently filled up at the behest of a powerful ruling party legislator (now a Minister), but notwithstanding wide media coverage of the issue, the government continues to remain mum. What we need is a uniform approach vis-à-vis protection of the natural environment and such double standards on the part of the government will not serve much purpose.
One would also question the government over its decision to stall the upgrading of Garbhanga RF located in the city limits to a wildlife sanctuary. A vast expanse of greenery, so essential for the city’s environmental well-being, could have been protected but our insensitive government seems to think otherwise.