Jorabat under flash flood, hundreds of vehicles stranded

OUR Correspondent

DIMORIA, May 22: Jorabat, 9 Mile and nearby areas on the outskirts of greater Guwahati have been hit by flash flood on Tuesday even before the full arrival of the monsoon. Significantly, following the conversion of the National Highway-37 into a 4-lane highway, the road has become prone to flash flood even after a single shower.

The result being that hundreds of vehicles get stranded on the highway even after a single shower on account of flash flood in the Jorabat area.

Although the problem is 7-8 years old and several parties and organizations have appealed to the authorities umpteen number of times to take corrective measures while staging several protest programmes, the flash flood problem has remained unchanged. The travelling public as well as the local residents are being compelled to suffer, courtesy apathy of the administration.

Significantly, the Deputy Commissioners of Kamrup(M) of Assam and his counterpart of Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya surveyed the area and had asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to construct drains on both sides of the road. Although construction of drains began on a small note, till date the work has remained incomplete.

It may be noted that earth cutting is in progress in the nearby hills of Meghalaya. As a result, after a shower in the hills the down flowing water carry away a huge amount of earth, causing the existing drains to be blocked.

On Tuesday too the NH-37 at Jorabat witnessed flash flood after a shower in the hills of Meghalaya, causing hundreds of vehicles to be stranded on the road due to the resultant flash flood.