Unabated hill cutting in Meghalaya causes flash floods in Jorabat, warn experts

Guwahati, Oct 22: The Jorabat area provides key road links not only to middle and upper Assam from Guwahati but also to neighbouring Meghalaya and beyond. But this area is submerged even after a brief spell of rain because of unabated hill cutting in Meghalaya.

As per Google maps, there are three prominent clusters of large scale degradation of forests due to hill cutting in the Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya. The entire degraded area is part of the Mylliem Reserve Forest (Meghalaya).

Due to northward slope of the hills, sediments generated from the barren land in these clusters flow with surface runoff towards the national highway between Khanapara and Jorabat creating flash flood, clogging the drain with sediments and leaving slush over the road.

In the absence of a tree canopy, sediment generation potential is also high in these clusters due to deep weathering of the rocks in the area.

When contacted by The Assam Tribune, Prof Parag Phukan of the Department of Geology in Gauhati University said that as per the Survey of India maps, there was a dense forest in Mylliem some years back. But haphazard hill cutting turned the forest almost into a barren land.

Phukan pointed out that with no tree canopy, each spell of rain brings down huge loads of sediments that clog the drains. Since no drain can carry huge loads of sediments, these drains are clogged within minutes and the national highway is flooded in the Jorabat area, thus cutting off vital road links.

“There is no second opinion that hill cutting in Meghalaya is the only reason for flash floods in Jorahat. If hill cutting is not stopped, the problem will aggravate in the days to come,” he said.

Phukan said the Meghalaya government has not also made any arrangement for silt trapping, but he is doubtful whether that would work because of the volume of the silt carried by rainwater.