GUWAHATI, Aug 26 � Asking the State government to plan the rehabilitation of the landless people in such a manner as it does not have adverse impact on the water bodies and wetlands in and around the city, the Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG) has said that the issue of land in Guwahati is a very sensitive one.
The NGO asked the chairman of the Land Patta Committee Dr Bhumidhar Barman to keep the interest of larger segments of Guwahatians into mind, while deciding anything on the issue.
In a letter to Dr Barman, SGBG president Dhiren Baruah said that the issue of right over land to people who have been living in the hills, government land, forest land and marshy land of Guwahati for a prolonged period of time is a prominent issue demanding immediate steps to solve it.
�After the movement of several local development committees, the Government forms a land patta committee under Dr Barman to find out an amicable solution. Subsequently, after holding nine meetings with the development committees, discussing the entire issue thoroughly, we submitted a report to the Government on May 25, 2012,� said Baruah, who is also a member of the Assam Government Land Patta Committee.
�During the meetings the opinions of almost all the committees were taken into consideration and most of the committees agreed to our suggestions made in this regard. The government should soon declare all the facts officially,� he added.
The NGO further appealed the government to take all the necessary steps to preserve the wetlands and make them free from encroachments.
�The wetlands of Guwahati have immense importance as they act as water exit channel of the city. Since we are already facing an acute flash flood problem in the city, further encroachment or construction work on the wetland would aggravate the problem beyond control,� Baruah said asking the government to plan the resettlement of the indigenous people, who are fighting for their land right, in such a way that it does not hamper the interest of the people already living in Guwahati.
