GUWAHATI, Feb 6 - The hasty decision and haphazard shifting of the Assam capital from Shillong to Guwahati in 1973 without proper planning had resulted in a virtual disaster and Guwahati will not remain habitable after another four decades unless drastic measures are taken to meet the challenges in respect of transport, environment and discharge of water.
Several octogenarians of the city expressed this view while participating in a discussion organised by the Octogenarians� Club of Guwahati at the Pensioners� Bhawan here today.
The meeting was presided over by 102-year-old Dr Keshav Chandra Bardoloi, who made history in the country by presiding over a meeting and conducting it with aplomb.
Introducing the themes of the meeting, club secretary DN Chakravartty said that in another four decades it would be difficult for Guwahatians to take out their vehicles from their residences to any part of the city without having clearance from the city�s transport control room.
Chakravartty also mentioned the �vitriolic utterances� of a section of the communally-motivated political leaders like the Owaisi brothers of Hyderabad, Azam Khan of Uttar Pradesh, Sahabusdin of Bihar and Badaruddin Ajmal and Siddique Ahmed of Assam, echoing the expressions of Md Ali Jinnah and other leaders of the Muslim League during 1940-46 upholding the two-nation theory and clamouring for the country�s partition on the basis of religion.
He said that the Muslim community in India should be aware of the historic fact that 98 per cent of the members of the Constituent Assembly who were Hindus, did not opt for a Hindu state in independent India, and that the Muslims in the country should not have any reason to be aggrieved at the prevailing socio-political situation.
Participating in the discussion, former Union minister Renuka Devi Barkataky urged the political leaders of the country to think and present before the people a picture of a new India where there would be no place for petty thinking on the basis of communal loyalty and caste prejudices.
Dr Atul Chandra Sarma said that salvation of Guwahatians could be sought only by transferring one third of the population to the surrounding areas by erecting a couple of bridges linking the north bank, and also expanding the city to the west and the east.
Surendra Kumar Baruah, nonagenarian Amal Chandra Hazarika and Uttam Chandra Baruah, while participating in the discussion, said that it would be horrible to think about India�s partition once again on the basis of religion. On the other hand, it would be unwise to ignore the impending catastrophe befalling the Guwahatians unless some drastic measures are taken right now to correct the faults resulting in the terrible situation in the city.
Keshav Chandra Bardoloi said that as a centenarian, he would only pray to God to endow every citizen with good sense of patriotism, honesty and concern for the welfare of the poor and downtrodden.