Condition of Guwahati during monsoon
Waterlogged roads and mud filled bye lanes are not special phenomenon these days in Guwahati as Monsoon has already started showing its performance in temper. After a light shower of half an hour the scenes of most of the city locations look alike.
IT IS again the time of misery and trouble in Guwahati, as it is the rainy season of the year. Monsoon is in its mood and has already started showing its performance in temper.
Waterlogged roads and mud filled bye lanes are not special phenomenon these days. After a light shower of just half an hour the scenes of most of the city locations look alike. It means no difference, whether it is the much urbanised residential localities such as Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar etc or the low lying areas of South Guwahati, namely, Barshapara, Bhaskarnagar etc.
“The city lacks proper drainage system. The Guwahati Mnicipal Corporation workers frequently clean the drains, whereas they charge huge taxes. The jam in drains due to plastic bags and improper garbage cleaning makes the water passing capacity of the drains less effecting just after a little spell of shower. We have been suffering a lot for years. We feel shame to say that we live in the heart of the city of Guwahati,”complains Pranab Saikia, a resident of city’s Nabin Nagar.
Another important element in this unlucky list of disasters is the group of manholes above drains along city footpaths. After a shower of rain it becomes indeterminant for a citizen to identify the proper positions of those deadly holes. Much congested city areas like Paltanbazar, Panbazar, Fancybazar, Athgaon, Machkhowa etc may considered as ‘manhole prone zones’.
At present one may find some fresh manholes at city locations namely Shantipur, Maligaon, Kalapahar-Pahartoli, Lalganesh etc. These are the drains which have been taken up for construction before the general elections, remained half done. “It’s not hard to understand that only to influence the voters before the election, the authorities have started the construction work. As the election is over, the work has also stop. They may blame that due to monsoon such project cannot progress further. But the actual fact is that it’s just an election policy. Incidents of people falling in manholes, leading to injury as well as death are nothing new in Guwahati,” argues a resident of Pahartoli.
After the land it is the turn of city hills. Though illegal encroaching has already become a challenge to the fast rising population, the city hills too are not safer so. The incidents of severe landslide at the city hills create panic among the resident encroachers. But then too, city hills are getting encroached at a fast rate. Hills at Noonmati, Nabagraha,Maligaon, Nilachal, Fatashil, Dhirenpara, Kalapahar and Jyotikuchi etc have been catering the deadly shows of landslide for several years, killing many human lives as well. Altogether eighteen such city hills have been considered as ‘landslide prone zones’. Earth cutting being the main cause of this kind of devastation, is still going on in such hills attacking the nature.
“Guwahati may be considered as one of the fastest growing cities of the world. Our chief minister may feel happy thinking that Guwahati is one the few cities of world which have ten flyovers itself. But the growth is unidirectional. Only the concrete establishments cannot be the signs of growth as Guwahati lacks proper civic facilities. On the same hand, our inactive civic bodies cannot provide fresh drinking water too although they are charging huge amount of taxes. Similarly, drainage and water disposal mechanism is also among the civic facilities for which the residents are in urgent need. Guwahati needs a model civic management system,” suggests Ajay Bhadra, a senior citizen of Maligaon.
From the front of authorities, Ratul Baruah, Joint Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) said, “ This year we are taking so many measures to tackle the monsoon and artificial floods in the city, in which cleaning of the drains is of the topmost priority. Some of the drains in the city which are under constructions, come under our work whereas rest are under the Public Works Department (PWD). Our joint project with the Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is running smoothly, whereas we are not getting public support in the project of electricity generation as they refuse to pay Rs 50 per household. The water supply project going to be established with the funding of Japan Bank is in the pipeline.”
“The city lacks proper drainage system. The Guwahati Mnicipal Corporation workers frequently clean the drains, whereas they charge huge taxes. The jam in drains due to plastic bags and improper garbage cleaning makes the water passing capacity of the drains less effecting just after a little spell of shower. We have been suffering a lot for years. We feel shame to say that we live in the heart of the city of Guwahati,”complains Pranab Saikia, a resident of city’s Nabin Nagar.
Another important element in this unlucky list of disasters is the group of manholes above drains along city footpaths. After a shower of rain it becomes indeterminant for a citizen to identify the proper positions of those deadly holes. Much congested city areas like Paltanbazar, Panbazar, Fancybazar, Athgaon, Machkhowa etc may considered as ‘manhole prone zones’.
At present one may find some fresh manholes at city locations namely Shantipur, Maligaon, Kalapahar-Pahartoli, Lalganesh etc. These are the drains which have been taken up for construction before the general elections, remained half done. “It’s not hard to understand that only to influence the voters before the election, the authorities have started the construction work. As the election is over, the work has also stop. They may blame that due to monsoon such project cannot progress further. But the actual fact is that it’s just an election policy. Incidents of people falling in manholes, leading to injury as well as death are nothing new in Guwahati,” argues a resident of Pahartoli.
After the land it is the turn of city hills. Though illegal encroaching has already become a challenge to the fast rising population, the city hills too are not safer so. The incidents of severe landslide at the city hills create panic among the resident encroachers. But then too, city hills are getting encroached at a fast rate. Hills at Noonmati, Nabagraha,Maligaon, Nilachal, Fatashil, Dhirenpara, Kalapahar and Jyotikuchi etc have been catering the deadly shows of landslide for several years, killing many human lives as well. Altogether eighteen such city hills have been considered as ‘landslide prone zones’. Earth cutting being the main cause of this kind of devastation, is still going on in such hills attacking the nature.
“Guwahati may be considered as one of the fastest growing cities of the world. Our chief minister may feel happy thinking that Guwahati is one the few cities of world which have ten flyovers itself. But the growth is unidirectional. Only the concrete establishments cannot be the signs of growth as Guwahati lacks proper civic facilities. On the same hand, our inactive civic bodies cannot provide fresh drinking water too although they are charging huge amount of taxes. Similarly, drainage and water disposal mechanism is also among the civic facilities for which the residents are in urgent need. Guwahati needs a model civic management system,” suggests Ajay Bhadra, a senior citizen of Maligaon.
From the front of authorities, Ratul Baruah, Joint Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) said, “ This year we are taking so many measures to tackle the monsoon and artificial floods in the city, in which cleaning of the drains is of the topmost priority. Some of the drains in the city which are under constructions, come under our work whereas rest are under the Public Works Department (PWD). Our joint project with the Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited (REEL) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is running smoothly, whereas we are not getting public support in the project of electricity generation as they refuse to pay Rs 50 per household. The water supply project going to be established with the funding of Japan Bank is in the pipeline.”
 | Previous Post |
| Next Post |  |
Login
 Login through Social ID
|
