GUWAHATI, April 10 � The callousness of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has come to the fore once again with its reply to the queries made by an RTI activist on the matters related to septic tanks and sewage treatment system in the city.
The GMC said in reply to the queries made by RTI activist Rohit Choudhury on the number of the septic tanks existing in the municipal areas of the city that it has no knowledge of the number of such structures.
It also said in reply to another question of Choudhury that the septic tanks were introduced in the city since the establishment of the GMC in 1974. But, �There is no any sewer treatment plant in Guwahati Municipal Corporation. The tanks are unloaded at Boragaon Dumping Ground of Guwahati Municipal Corporation in chock pit chambers,� it said in reply to another query of Choudhury.
The replies are self-revealing of the lackadaisical approach of the GMC towards a serious problem of developing Guwahati as a clean metropolis. It is a common knowledge of the Guwahatians that many of the city�s septic tanks have their outlets linked with the drains and natural channels.
So far, about 41 years have elapsed since the establishment of the GMC. But it has not been able to set up a sewage treatment plant and a sewerage system for the city.
In the rainy season, the residents of the city are thus made to wade through the sewer generated by the septic tanks, many of which are linked either with the drains or with the natural channels, in the event of flash floods.
And in the dry season, the dusts generated by the roadside dry sludge containing the pollutants of the septic tanks make things horrible for the residents of this 41-year-old city.
