Artificial flooding in Guwahati and on the city outskirts in Jorabat is worsening every year and leave commuters stranded for hours after every spell of torrential rain. A permanent solution to the problem will continue to be perpetually elusive without a joint effort by Assam and Meghalaya. As Monsoon run-off from Meghalaya hills is the key contributing factor behind artificial flooding in Jorabat and adjoining areas, traffic along the National Highway 27 is severely disrupted which has no longer remained a problem for Guwahati alone and it equally affects people travelling to and from Meghalaya and other states in the Northeast region via this important route. Unlike urban flooding in Delhi and other major cities of the country which are located in plains and attributed to rampant urbanization leading to vanishing of natural water retention areas, clogged drains etc., Guwahati shares a hilly boundary with Meghalaya due to which the city’s vulnerability has increased with alarming ecological degradation in the hill stretches. Due to rampant cutting of hills, heavy rains cascades into low-lying areas submerging the low-lying stretches along the highway and also gushes into areas like Khanapara, Rukminigaon, Panjabari, Sixmile and Behabari where problems of clogged drains, blocking of water channels with real estate expansion, construction of shopping malls, office buildings etc compound the artificial flooding. Isolated silt and debri cleaning from drainage network alone cannot be sustainable solution if coordinated efforts are not initiated by Assam and Meghalaya for slope management along the inter-state boundary along the city. Water from Meghalaya hills to Guwahati’s plains flow perennially but natural drainage but the natural watershed used to moderate the rain cascades. Besides, vast stretches of swamps and natural waterbodies along the foothills along the highway were natural reservoir of Monsoon run-off from Meghalaya hills. Most of these low- lying areas have been filled up with rapid but unplanned expansion of the capital city with construction of buildings. Parallel to filling up of the low-lying areas, rampant hill cutting also took place to make way for construction of educational institutions, muti-storied residential buildings, etc., expansion of the highway into a four-lane. When these construction activities were pushed by tampering the natural topography, the policymakers failed to foresee the problem of blockage of rainwater run-off from the hills and prioritise construction of adequate drainage with optimal capacity to divert the water cascades from Meghalaya to large waterbodies like Deepor Beel and Silsako. It is not that the solution is not known to the city authorities but why it has not been effectively applied is baffling when the hundreds of crores have been spent every year to build GMC’s capability for desilting Guwahati’s drains to reduce intensity of flooding without much noticeable improvement. Climate change impact adding to the problem of erratic rainfall such as large excess rain within a small window has compounded the problem of high-velocity water run-off from the degraded and tampered watershed. While planning the drainage capacity this factor needs to be incorporated so that discharge capacity of the drainage channels built to carry water gushing down the Meghalaya hills to Deepor Beel and Silsako is kept at maximum. There is, however, a limit to the capacity of such drainage channels or the drainage network in the city which makes it imperative for Assam to focus more on watershed and slope management in coordination with the Meghalaya government. Assam government has already made elaborate presentation to the Meghalaya government how illegal hill cutting has worsened the problem. It is heartening to know the Meghalaya government has acknowledged the problem faced by Assam and is trying to find a solution to the problem. The onus lies on Assam government to consistently pursue the matter with the Meghalaya government at the bureaucratic level so that initiates taken at the political leadership of Chief Minister’s level is translated into workable and pragmatic solution for a sustainable solution. Guwahati being the gateway to the Northeast region, sustainability of the capital city is in the interest of not just Assam or the city residents but for Meghalaya and other states of the entire region. Meghalaya acknowledging this crucial role of Guwahati city and national highway passing through the city is crucial to influence its policy decision on addressing the problem of hill cutting along the inter-state boundary. Meghalaya also needs accelerated development but if rampant hill cutting is not checked, the development activities in the state will not be sustainable. Sonner the neighbouring states make coordinated effort to address the artificial flooding along the highway it is better. When mega investments have flowed into the region and is on the cusp of bigger industrial investments traffic along the major highway getting stuck for hours due to artificial flooding only sends a negative picture of inefficiency, poor planning to potential investors which is unwarrented.