GUWAHATI, Dec 9 - The havoc created by floods in Chennai should serve as an eye-opener for the administrators of Assam, particularly those at the helm of affairs in the Guwahati Development Department (GDD), said the Association of Architects, Assam (AAA). It pleaded for urgent measures for removing encroachments from the wetlands of the city.
In a statement, AAA president Tikendrajit Saikia said, �As a small initiative, we would like to request all the organisations to help in removing encroachment from the water bodies for the safety of Guwahati city.�
He also urged the citizens and organisations to lend their support to the authorities concerned in this regard and also to extend their active help for restoring the natural water holding capacities of the water bodies of the city.
The water bodies like Deepor Beel and Silsako Beel are the major stormwater reservoirs, which serve Guwahati also as its lungs. The authorities should also work upon excavating the encroachment-free areas of these water bodies so as to prevent fresh encroachments.
The GMC and GMDA can purchase some private plots of land in the perennially water-logged areas like Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar and RG Baruah Road to create big water bodies like Dighalipukhuri for storing rainwater in those areas. This will definitely help in reducing artificial floods in those areas to a large extent. Similar methods can be applied in the other areas too in the near future, said the AAA president.
