Guwahati needs actionable blueprint, not lofty promise

Candidates of different political parties promising to take up civic issues of Guwahati city and seeking support of the voters in the city have brought the quality of urban governance to the centre stage of public discourse. A concrete plan of action that is necessary to transform Guwahati into a truly smart city is yet to be presented by parties and candidates before the electors, and promises made are of a generic nature. Routine election-season assurances without much clarity in vision are seen as vague by electors and fail to generate enthusiasm among them, except political activities and supporters of candidates. The city continuing to suffer from chronic problems of artificial floods, poor drainage systems, drinking water shortages in many localities, traffic congestion due to mixed modes of transport, increasing pollution, and vending on footpaths blocking pedestrians' right of way, to highlight a few, is a reflection of the failure of past elected representatives to play their role in finding permanent solutions. Problems are known to the city authorities, but there are no convincing answers from them in respect of some of these problems when asked about the reasons for their persistence. Absence of dedicated vending zones, for instance, in the rapidly growing capital city baffles everyone when funds are available with the city authorities and citizens are paying tax to Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC). The lack of dedicated vending zones has significant fallout - the pavements are occupied by street vendors, compelling pedestrians to walk alongside the moving vehicles, putting their lives at risk. Shopping malls, flyovers, electric buses, and multiplexes have transformed the once slow-paced city into a bustling city. However, a few hours of rainfall not only result in waterlogging in several localities, but they also expose a failure born out of repeated neglect. A section of city residents is also to be blamed for some of the persistent problems, but administrative and governance failures cannot always be covered up by passing the buck to city residents. If strong laws to enforce disciplined behaviour of citizens that aggravate the problems gripping the city are not in place, it is the responsibility of the lawmakers to bring amendments to give more teeth to such laws for effective enforcement. Hill cutting, for instance, which is one of the root causes of deterioration of the artificial flooding in the city, is not permitted by law, but it is the colossal failure of the authorities to enforce the legal provisions against it. How the candidates standing in constituencies that cover the city areas propose to address this problem is still not known to the electors. Instead, permanent settlement on the city hills has become a major poll issue, and parties and candidates are rushing to make all kinds of promises in a bid to woo them without giving any serious thought to environmental consequences. Such a populist trend does not bode well for the sustainability of the city. A pragmatic approach to putting an end to hill cutting and encroachment on city hills is leveraging central government-funded schemes for affordable housing. Rapid growth in the service sector in the city has pushed the demand for a workforce, resulting in large-scale migration of people from not just across the state but also from neighbouring states. Most of this workforce, belonging to low-income households and low-paid, cannot afford costly rented accommodation closer to their workplace, and an easy alternative to this problem is initially taking affordable accommodation on rent in hill areas and subsequently settling by cutting trees and constructing low-cost housing. As income levels rise, temporary houses made of bamboo and tin roofs are gradually converted into concrete structures. More slope cutting means more landslides, while loss of tree cover leads to topsoil erosion and increasing sediment load in the drains along the foothills. A hollow commitment of solving the city's waterlogging problems or improving the drainage system without deeper study of the interconnected problems and the gaps that continue to persist even after application of multiple solutions and adoption of different strategies makes no sense. While the primary responsibility of raising these issues to the city authorities lies with the elected representatives of GMC, the elected legislators from the city can coordinate with GMC councillors and raise the issues on the floor of the Assam Assembly to demand action from departments concerned, play an important role in the making of relevant laws, and raise questions on various projects and schemes which are aimed at improving waste management to make the city garbage-free and addressing other civic issues. Candidates presenting a clear vision of the role they aspire to play as elected representatives of their respective constituencies, if they are elected to the state assembly, can help electors to make an informed electoral choice. Electioneering brings an opportunity for electors to seek from the candidates a clear blueprint and purpose vision for transforming Guwahati into a future city.