Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam government spends a huge amount every year, especially before the onset of the monsoon, to clear the clogged grains in Guwahati. However, a solution to the problem of waterlogging will continue to elude Guwahati unless the authorities at the helm of affairs do away with the ‘unplanned and outdated drainage system’ that is unable to carry a high volume of water with a scientific system.
The prime reasons behind artificial floods in Guwahati are rapid urbanisation, inadequate infrastructure, ageing drains, earth cutting on hills leading to siltation and clogging of drains, etc. Such activities badly affect the water discharging capacity of the drains and rivulets to the Brahmaputra.
Instead of taking scientific measures to let overflowed water get its passage, a blunder that the authorities often resort to is ‘raising the heights of roads and bye-lanes in areas that experience water-logging’. This practice rather complicates the problem. For instance, people in the Rukminigaon, Hatigaon, Beltola Survey, etc., areas are victims of this blunder on the part of the authorities. The road in the Hatigaon area has been raised up to the levels of the footpaths. The local people say that it will only aggravate the situation during the monsoon. Water-logging will now affect newer areas. Raising the road level instead of deep-cleaning the drains has led residences that never felt water-logging to now face water-logging.
Around 19,000 residents of Rukminigaon include office goers, students staying on rents, families and whatnot. They say that the flyover being constructed will help the passage of traffic. However, in doing that, the authorities should not overlook or miss the plight of people residing nearby. The authorities dig roads, clear drains, etc., without conducting any scientific study to mitigate the problem.
A retired GMC engineer said, “An underground storm drainage system is a must in Guwahati. The authorities first need to clear the rivulets passing through the city, like Bharalu, Bahini, Morabharlu, Basistha, Lakhimijan, Bundajan, Khonajan, Kalmoni, etc., as these rivulets, fed by many drains of the city, carry the entire load of water to the Brahmaputra. The existing drains also need widening in a scientific way so as to make them able to carry more volumes of water.”
According to sources, since 1960 the successive civic bodies in Guwahati made several master plans but never implemented them. The unplanned urbanisation of Guwahati, with commercial and residential buildings dotting everywhere in the city, has also added to the woes. Newly urbanised areas like Kahikuchi, Lokhra, Jyotikuchi, Pamohi, etc., witnessed a haphazard construction of buildings without any monitoring from the authorities concerned. Had the authorities concerned demarcated adequate lands for drains and roads before allowing construction, such areas would not have witnessed the present situation of waterlogging.
According to a retired PWD engineer, the unplanned construction of flyovers in Guwahati also adds to the problem of waterlogging. The lack of a proper drainage system for the passage of water from flyovers makes water overflow roads and nearby lowlands. The drainage systems on the service roads of flyovers are also not scientific, and that causes waterlogging.
An official from the PWD said, “The fixation of area-specific heights of plinth levels is a must. However, this is not done in the newly urbanised areas in Guwahati. While the plinth level is five feet in some houses, it is two feet in some others. It affects the free passage of water during the monsoon. Since most of the open spaces of most of the houses in Guwahati are concretised, rainwater runs away horizontally without any vertical absorption.”
According to sources, pre-monsoon rivulet and drain clearing work under the flood-free mission seems to be a farce. They only clear the grass and other aquatic plants from the sides of the rivulets but do not dredge them. On drains, they just take out deposited silt and plastic materials in a shoddy way. No engineers and supervisors ever visit the repair and reconstruction works of drains. Everything goes on according to the labourers, without monitoring.
The authorities have taken some measures to mitigate the problem. However, without a comprehensive and effective drainage plan, the situation will only aggravate.
Also read: Assam: Minister Ashok Singhal Vows to End Waterlogging Woes in Guwahati City
Also Watch: