Assam Flood: Danger Mark Submerged In Guwahati

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Fancy Bazar, Machkhowa and their adjacent areas in Guwahati are vulnerable with the fragile MG Road at Fancy Bazar has to directly break waves of the surging Brahmaputra. This has happened as the river bank has been submerged in this stretch. Will the road remain in shape if such powerful waves continue to strike it directly? The authorities can ill-afford to do something tangible.

The Water Resources Department has stockpiled sand-filled sacs at some fragile stretches of MG Road – at Guwahati-Madhyam Khanda Ferry Ghat and its adjacent areas – to keep the threat from the powerful waves striking the road at bay. However, it seems, the measure isn’t strong enough to keep the fragile road in shape. In the event of the MG Road giving in to the relentless pressure from successive waves, the entire Fancy Bazar and Machkhowa areas may come under the grip of floods, and this may happen anytime.

This is not all. A number of parks and other installations on the bank of the Brahmaputra in this stretch from Sukreswar Temple to Bharalumukh are under water. They are Sankardev Udyan, Azan Peer Udyan, Bhagawan Mahabir Udyan, Guwahati-Kasomari Ghat and Guwahati-Madhyam Khanda Ghat. With the sluice gate of the Bharalumukh closed, the surging waves of the mighty river have wreaked havoc in areas like Santipur. Sonaram HS School, the back side of the Bharalumukh police station and a section of Pandu Ghat are well under water.

The situation is no better either in other areas in Guwahati. Uzan Bazar; Nuapara in Satgaon; Tinitukura, Panikhaiti, Begnenamari, Tamulbari, Kherbari, Amgaon, Rajabari etc in Panikhai Gaon Panchayat have been inundated. Tantipara, Singimari, Panbari, Thakurkuchi etc in Chandrapur gaon panchayat have also been under water. The worst is that many fresh areas are being inundated in all these areas.

Only the tip of the Lakshmi-Narayan Statue in Aanta Shajya of Baba Chakreswar Temple at Kalipur on the bank of the Brahmaputra is visible.

What’s worrisome is – at 5 pm on Tuesday the river was flowing at 1.55 m above the danger level at Guwahati. The water level was at 51.16 m at 6 am, at 51.17 m at 10 am, at 51.20 m at 1 pm, at 51.21 m at 2 pm and at 51.23 m at 5 pm.

According to a flood report issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority on Tuesday for Kamrup(M) district, five villages in Guwahati Revenue Circle, 19 villages in Sonapur Revenue Circle, 26 villages in Chandrapur Revenue Circle, four villages in Azara Revenue Circle and one village in Dispur Revenue Circle have been reeling under floods. The total population affected in the district is 56,368.

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