Atul Bora sets 48-hr deadline

GUWAHATI, March 10: MLA Atul Bora has given 48 hours to Dispur to stop all construction works of SHRISTI gar for “desecrating the ture’s mosaic comprising the lash green Sunsali Hill and the Brahmaputra fringing it’’ in Guwahati. Failing to meet the deadline, the MLA has said he will team up with the people of his constituency to stop the rot.

Addressing the media here on Saturday, the Dispur MLA said: “Where’s the Government? How come SHRISTI Construction, which purchased 650 bighas of land on Sunsali Hill from a local, could add as much as 6,000 bighas of land around it? How come it desecrates the ture’s bounty of the hill and the Brahmaputra by resorting to earth cutting and erecting buildings, felling sagun trees as old as 80-90 years? A person in the State will have to languish in jail in for cutting a segun tree in his own compound too without permission.”

Citing existing rules, the MLA said: “Permission from the State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority is a must for constructing in an area measuring 20,000 sq metre. Has the authority given its nod for this construction? Where’re the Revenue and Forest departments, the GMC and the GMDA? Have they given their nods? Dispur can’t start so many projects just for not getting forest clearance. How come the department gives its nod to such a construction venture? Hasn’t the Green Tribul located in Kolkata been aware of such destruction of forest in Guwahati?”

On legal powers in such matters, Bora said: “High courts can take cases on their own. Why hasn’t the Gauhati High Court taken any step in this regard?”

Bora issued a warning laden with threat: “I’m setting a 48-hour deadline for the State Government to stop the construction work, or else I’ll have no way out but to team up with the people of my constituency and get the job done.”

The backdrop of the project is not that remote. SHRISTI gar project was started when the Congress was in power at Dispur. However, the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had to stop the project work following widespread protests from various quarters, including social organizations. Now that the project is on under the new dispensation at Dispur, it has raised many eyebrows.

Bora visited the spot on Saturday before briefing the media on the project.