Guwahati’s Green Cover

There was a time when Guwahati could take pride in calling itself one of the greenest cities in the country. It is also one city which has a number of hills and wetlands, apart from at least two wildlife sanctuaries, Deepor Beel WLS and Amchang WLS. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority website, there are fifteen hills within the Guwahati Municipal Corporation area. The website of Guwahati Smart City Ltd, on the other hand, mentions that the city is surrounded by eighteen hills. What is also important to note is that Guwahati has eight reserve forests, these being South Kalapahar RF, Fatasil RF, Jalukbari RF, Gotanagar RF, Hengrabari RF, Sarania Hill RF, Garbhanga RF and Rani RF. Guwahati is also fortunate that Deepor Beel is also an internationally acclaimed wetland and Ramsar site. Guwahati is also a unique landscape which has one of the highest numbers of wildlife species in an urban setting. But the unfortunate part is that the city’s green cover is rapidly disappearing. If this trend is allowed to continue, then the day is not far away when Guwahati will be an unliveable concrete jungle, compelling people to abandon it for a better place to breathe. The government and the people – both must be held equally responsible for pushing Guwahati into this dangerous situation. While hundreds of people are encroaching upon the hills and wetlands in and around Guwahati city, the rich and powerful are competing amongst themselves to wipe out every patch of greenery from the city to fulfil their greed. The government has enough power in its hands, based on a number of legal provisions, to protect the hills and wetlands and to ensure proportionate use of land for construction and greenery. The government also has a number of instruments to ensure that trees are planted and protected on the sides of every major road and the road dividers thereof. The government also has the power to compel various institutions and government organisations to grow and protect trees in their respective campuses. Yet, even a cursory look at some of the government and non-government buildings in the past ten years or more will reveal that the majority of them do not have trees – and space for trees – in their respective campuses. It is a very good sign that of late a section of citizens have come out to protest the felling of trees to facilitate the construction of a flyover in the heart of the city. Such awareness is a must, especially for a historic city like Guwahati. In fact, Guwahati requires a massive citizens’ campaign not just for protecting the city’s trees but also to remove settlers and encroachers from the wetlands, hills, forests and other government land.