Guwahatians Urge Administration to Stop Permitting New Housing Complexes

GUWAHATI: The Citizen's United Forum for Water Supply in Guwahati has asked the local administration not to allow the construction of any more large-scale housing projects in the city till the water supply projects of the city are functional.

The biggest city in the Northeastern part of the country is already facing a severe groundwater crunch. In the absence of a fully functional drinking water supply, most of the citizens are dependent on the groundwater reserves. And this has led to the growth of illegal water suppliers who are not following any rules and regulations related to this major problem. The local administration has taken steps to stop such businesses and levied fines on those found in violation of such regulations.

The organisation had organised a meeting on Sunday under chief convenor Deepak Goswami. He mentioned, "although the forum is a new organisation, it has been able to bring together about 55 organizations from different parts of the city to demand water supply within a short time. Some of these organizations have been fighting for a solution to this problem for more than a decade. The forum has already submitted a memorandum to the minister concerned, has drawn the attention of the Chief Justice of the high court and has held six or seven meetings in different parts of Guwahati."

The meeting also highlighted some of the key problems that are leading to the groundwater crunch along with recommendations for solving them. These included the conservation of rainwater, proper technical training to ward commissioners, people with technical knowledge in the water regulatory authority, no water - no vote, and completion of pending projects.

It is important to note that problems regarding the drinking water supply to every house in the city and waterlogging during the monsoons have been on the election agenda of almost every party for every election over the last decade and a half. A PIL was filed by the Chiriyakhana Path Senior Citizens' Association in the HC regarding the same issue. But the problem has not been solved yet, mainly due to the lack of interest of the state government in this sector, mentioned one of the members of the organisation, Satyabrata Sharma.

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