GUWAHATI, July 14 - As the Brahmaputra continued to be in spate, the backflow of surging waters into drains and channels has inundated several city areas like Kedar Road, Bhoothnath, Kumarpara and Santipur on Tuesday, causing immense hardships to the residents.
The Brahmaputra in Guwahati is flowing at 50.77 metre (recorded at 3 pm), which is 1.09 metre above the danger mark.
The Brahmaputra in the city had recorded a level of 51.23 metres last, which was the highest in 14 years. In 2004, the Central Water Commission recorded the level of the river at 51.46 metre in the city.
�For the past three days, the water level has been rising constantly. If it continues to increase further, many other areas in and around Fancy Bazar, Machkhowa and Bharalumukh, including MG Road, will go under water,� an official of district administration said.
Nearly 100 houses of Jyoti Prasad Road in Bharalumukh area have been affected due to several leakages in the sluice gates on Bharalu river, maintained by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation.
�We have been facing the artificial floods for the last four years due to the leakage in the gates,� a resident said.
West Guwahati MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita along with GMC Executive Engineer Nabojyoti Bordoloi visited the affected areas, including Kedar Road, Kumarpara, Sanitpur, Bharalumukh, to take stock of the situation and interacted with the residents.
He assured them of all possible measures from the government agencies to ameliorate their suffering.
He said that the Kamrup (Metro) district administration is constantly monitoring the climb in water level and necessary actions are being taken accordingly.
The floodwaters have also submerged the Bhootnath crematorium. Parts of the Shankardev Udyan park in Machkhowa area and Lachit Ghat were submerged under flood waters. According to ASDMA�s daily flood report, waterlogging has been reported at Satgaon, Dwarka Nagar and Kerakuchi under Dispur Revenue Circle.
The Water Resources Department has stopped all the pumps at the Bharalumukh Sluice Gate under its control as the River Brahmaputra is flowing 1.5 metre above Bharalu river. The Bharalu Sluice Gate has been closed since the water level of the River Brahmaputra keeps rising.
A source in the Water Resources Department said, �All the water pumps at the Bharalu Sluice Gate at Bharalumukh have been stopped only to maintain the level between the River Brahmaputra and Bharalu river. There are 10 pumps of 125 HP which were functional till Monday. However, four pumps at Mora Bharalu are functional.�
�We will start operating the highly powerful pumps to drain Bharalu water if there is a heavy rain in the city,� he said, adding that the situation was under control.
�Considering the looming danger, we are ready with earth-filled gunny bags in the event of any leakage to prevent the water from coming in,� he further said.
An official of Water Resources Department said that there is a need of additional sluice gates at Bharalumukh to prevent any untoward incident in the future.
�The department repairs the sluice gate every year as the toxic acid in Bharalu water causes heavy damaged to the gate. There is a need of additional gate in that location,� an official of Water Resources Department said.
Social activist Bikash Gupta said that the people want a permanent solution to the problem, which occurs every year.
MLA Ramendra Narayan Kalita also visited Azara to get a first-hand account of flood situation there. The LGBI Airport at Borjhar is now facing the threat of inundation by the Brahmaputra after floodwaters entered Azara by breaching an embankment and came precariously close to the airport.
Efforts are also on to stop the flow of water into Dharapur, Azara and Mazirgaon, etc.