Karishmita Saikia
In a bid to make Guwahati city flood-free, de-siltation and heightening of drains have been carried out across the city. The de-siltation process which is a common sight in the city currently, is however posing a threat to normal life.
The ongoing work has left most of the footpaths built above the drains partially damaged posing a life threat to pedestrians. In almost every nook and corner of the city, we can see huge drains being left open for several days. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) removes concrete or iron slabs to de-silt the drains and places those again after the work is completed. Since most of the footpaths in the city are built on top of these drains, the partial damages caused by removing and placing the concrete or iron slabs again on the footpaths has become a major concern as it may turn to death traps.
While speaking to several city-dwellers regarding the government’s pledge for a flood-free Guwahati, we received a mixed bag of reactions. Some were of the view that the recent de-siltation process would help reduce the havoc caused by floods. Others claimed that the flood situation would be further triggered this year.
A female shop owner in Guwahati’s Wireless locality named Pubali Kalita said, “Workers are working but in a very slow pace. I think there will be no improvement in the flood situation this year. The work here started in December, last year itself and we heard it would be completed within three months. But it is already April now and there is not much progress in the work.”
Speaking about the problems being faced in their day-to-day lives, she said, “Since the slabs of the drains have been left open, we are facing lot of hindrance in our daily communication. My business as well as my health has deteriorated since the construction work has begun. Pollution level in the area has also been increased. Another major problem is that there are just a few workers engaged in the work here.”
Another resident of the same locality said that he is hopeful about the de-siltation work to be completed soon and that they would not face the same situation during floods.
He said, “Our area has been affected since the construction of the flyover at Super Market area. Maybe the outlet for the water to flow has been blocked due to some reason. We do not know what is happening exactly. However, our ward has been declared as a sensitive area. Therefore we are positive that the PWD would progress their work and it would be completed in two months.”
Meanwhile, locals of Silpukhuri area are of the view that the PWD authorities ensure that the work is completed in a neat and clean manner before the arrival of monsoon.
“We just hope that before the monsoon, the de-siltation work is completed because we suffer a lot during the floods. Work that is underway in the by-lanes has become a major hindrance to vehicular movement. It is difficult at times of medical and other emergencies,” said Mr. Jogen Das of Silpukhuri area.
On the other hand, businessmen and general people in Hatigaon area opined that the flood situation would remain the same this year as the drains have been constructed without any planning.
A businessman named Rakesh Pal said, “I have been running this shop since the last 18 years. But the loss that I have incurred after the de-siltation work has started here is incomparable. As construction work is always underway, the flow of customer to my shop has been affected. Since the last two months, hardly any customer has visited my shop. I would request the concerned authorities to speed up the work.”
Another resident of Hatigaon area said, “I’m sure the flood condition will not improve this year too. Maybe this time, the flood situation will worsen. The drain that the authorities are re-constructing should have been raised higher. But they are much lower than the river level. So it is a known thing that the water from the rivers will flow back into the drains. So I think this monsoon we have to travel on make-shift boats.”
“It’s been two months now and the work is not progressing. Moreover, we do not know when the contractor comes to visit the sites. There were many trees in this area which have all been cut down so the drains can be constructed. As a result of cutting down the trees, the area has become dustier,” he added.
A youth named Mrinal Dutta said, “We are facing a very bad situation here. The authorities had cut down huge trees which were along the road. The trees were cut to ensure that the drains can be constructed. After the trees were cut, the entire area has become very dusty and has impacted our health adversely.”
Meanwhile, workers engaged in the de-siltation work at Chandmari opined that they were allotted three months to finish off the work and that they would just need a few days to complete the work.
In January this year, the chief minister’s special vigilance cell (SVC) filed a 851-page chargesheet against 12 officials of GMC which include several engineers and two from a private firm, in connection with a Rs 20-crore scam in the name of carrying de-siltation work in the city during the period from April 2 to May 26 last year.
In mid-2022, then GMC commissioner Devasish Sharma detected some irregularities and illegalities in executing de-siltation work in the civic body. He then directed the then joint commissioner Pankaj Chakraborty to conduct an inquiry and forwarded the report. The inquiry report revealed that the private firm “submitted bills with forged weighbridge slips for several crores of rupees and withdrew the government funds and inflated bills to GMC showing supply of vehicles and machineries at inflated rates.”
It may be mentioned that one of the promises in BJP’s election manifesto for the GMC polls held last year was a flood-free Guwahati. However, as monsoons are just approaching, it would be interesting to watch if city dwellers have to face the same state of depredation like previous years or would the condition improve this year.
