Airport on the verge of facing water-logging!

From our Correspondent

AZARA, April 8: The Kamrup (M) district administration seems to busy itself with clearing drains and cals that crisscross Guwahati city, leaving its outskirts aside. The situation has now come to such a pass that Lokapriya Gopith Bordoloi Airport (LGBA) is on the verge of facing artificial flood that is likely to be more disastrous than what afflicts Guwahati city.

It is a fact that Guwahati city has been a hellhole in every monsoons, and as such more attention is given to it. People living on the outskirts of the city, however, want that the administration should also take care of their living condition and problems that afflict them.

Water-carrying drains and wetlands in the Azara Revenue Circle have been grossly under the occupation of encroachers who block them there and there. People residing in areas like Bongora, Raibori, Jogipara, VIP, Shyambhumi, Ariport, Azara, Garal etc., places under Azara Revenue Circle have been victims of artificial floods every year. In fact, these are places where people encroach lands in a rampant way, block roadside drains and wetlands and cause water-logging. This is not all, the drains and wetlands are used as dumping grounds, causing problems like water-logging and water-borne diseases.

Waters from these areas were carried away by the Kalmoni and Kopili rivers earlier, but these two rivers have been under rampant encroachment, hindering their tural flows. The drains on either side of the route from Garal to Airport are blocked here and there, and this has posed a threat to the airport. It is almost certain that the airport will feel the impact of water-logging, sooner than later.

It is worth mentioning here that on April 19, 2013, the then Kamrup (M) DC had asked the Azara Revenue Circle officer to free the airport from the clutch of artificial floods. The DC had also asked the Airport Authority, PWD, City Police, BSF, Water Resources Department, the Zila Parishad, Rani Development Block and others concerned to find ways to get the passage of water cleared so that the airport and its adjacent areas do not have to face problems like water-logging. Accordingly, dredging of drains was done in some areas, but now everything is back to square one.