GUWAHATI, Oct 3 - Although the State government has been spending crores of rupees for the maintenance of drainage system in Guwahati, the city is yet to become a flood-free place due to lack of proper vision and planning. Causes like lack of proper coordination among various line departments, poor maintenance of rainwater discharging channels like the Bharalu river, unauthorised earth-cutting in the hills in the city, etc. have aggravated the problem.
Notably, in the last part of September, incessant rainfall caused severe waterlogging in many parts of the city. During that time, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) carried out a study and found similar causes due to which the city had witnessed artificial flood in the past too. According to the study, near the Adabari bus stand, waterlogging took place as the PWD had taken up piling and other construction works and dumped construction materials along the drain, affecting the flow of water.
The BG Colony area under GMC Ward No.1 and the Bhootnath area under GMC Ward No.5 recently witnessed severe waterlogging and these areas don't have stormwater drains, the study revealed.
During that time in the Ambari area, waterlogging took place because of the rising water level of the Borsola Beel. The situation got aggravated due to insufficient water carrying capacity of the railway cross culvert under the railway overbridge near the beel and the underground drain from Assam Textile Institute to Army Transit Camp.
Waterlogging also took place at Gandhi Basti Tiniali and Lachit Nagar.
Similarly, waterlogging took place at RG Baruah Road near Doordarshan Kendra due to backflow of water from the Bharalu and near the NRL petrol pump as the roadside drain is very shallow and there is cross-culvert to discharge the water to the Bharalu.
At Mother Teresa Road, waterlogging took place near Monalisha Path as a huge amount of silt came down from the nearby hills due to continuous showers. Waterlogging at Tarun Nagar Main Road occurred due to rising water level of the Bharalu and also due to low discharge capacity of the existing dewatering pump sets kept at Tarun Nagar bylane-1 and narrow drainage system.
The report further said waterlogging took place at Jyoti Nagar, Pub Jyotinagar and Nepali Chowk as a huge amount of silt came down from the nearby hills due to uncontrolled earth cutting.
In VIP Road, the artificial flood occurred due to lack of proper cross culvert and in Narengi Chandrapur Road, waterlogging took place due to incomplete drainage system.
Again in Rajgarh Road, waterlogging took place because the dewatering pump sets operated by the Water Resources department had gone out of order and due to poor drainage system.
Moreover, stormwater and silt coming down from the Meghalaya hills had caused a flash flood in the Juripar area and the backflow of the Bahini caused waterlogging in the Mathura Nagar area behind Down Town Hospital.
At BN Saikia Road near the BSNL office, water could not pass freely as lots of BSNL cables were lying under the drain, resulting in waterlogging.
Meanwhile, the national highway service lane in the Tetelia area witnessed waterlogging due to lack of drainage system in the area.
Again, improper drainage system constructed by PWD also caused waterlogging in the Birubari main road and Jyotikuchi areas too.
