Jorhat's century-old ponds threatened by railways landfill campaign

Jorhat, Dec 16: The global community is laying stress on preserving water bodies for a safer environment and, in the country, both the governments at the Centre and State have also been planning conservation of the wetlands and ponds of considerable size for diverting floodwaters from the State's rivers to them. However, contrary to all these, the Railways authority has undertaken a campaign to eliminate two century-old ponds of considerable size near the Jorhat Town Railway Station.

The Railways authority has already filled up the smaller of the two ponds and is now close to completing burial of the larger one, measuring around 410 feet in length and 160 feet in width. The pleas of the residents of the Jorhat Town Railway Station locality to the Jorhat district commissioner and the

Railways authority to preserve the bigger pond have failed to bear any fruit.

Senior residents of the locality reminisce about how the two ponds were used as the venue of myriad activities like swimming competitions and angling, and how their banks were used by the kids for learning bicycle riding and playing team games like kabaddi, 'dhop', etc. Moreover, people of all ages used these banks to bask in the sun during the winter season. The banks of the ponds were also utilised as venues for meetings on important matters by the local community.

The Railways had dug the ponds over a century back. There was a dispute between the Railways and the Jorhat municipal authority over the ownership of the plots of land on which the ponds were dug. A causeway, named after its builder late Siddhinath Kalita, was located between the two ponds.

This small road still exists, while the ponds are now consigned to oblivion, despite their immense contribution to Jorhat's society, lamented Siddinath Kalita's octogenarian engineer son, Pranab Kumar Choudhury.

He also referred to a report carried by a section of the media over a decade back regarding a proposal of the Jorhat district administration to protect several water bodies, wetlands, and historical ponds under the provisions of the Assam Hill Land and Ecological Sites (Protection and Management) Act, 2006. The district administration's proposal mentioned the contribution of these ponds in keeping Jorhat town and its adjacent rural areas cool and verdant during the summer sea- son (https:// assamtribune.com/jorhat-to- protect-water-bodies-greeneries).

However, the authorities concerned allowed the two ponds to be degraded into marshy land and become vulnerable to encroachment. Now, driving the final nail into the coffin, the Railways authority is eliminating them altogether, Choudhury said.

In an official statement made on June 23, 2024, while chairing a review meeting on flood preparedness, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had suggested steps to dig at least 50 large ponds in the Northeast, particularly in Assam, so that the floodwaters of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries can be diverted to them.

Besides, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityananda Rai had informed the Rajya Sabha on July 31 this year that the North East Space Application Centre (NESAC) has identified 271 wetlands for channelising excess water of the monsoon season from the Brahmaputra and other rivers. He was replying to a question (Unstarred Question No-1037) raised by Sushmita Dev.

By Ajit Paowary