GUWAHATI, June 16 - With recurring flash floods taking a heavy toll on the capital city, the soil conservation department has decided to collaborate with the IIT Guwahati in implementing a watershed management project in the Guwahati hills to check erosion and siltation which is leading to clogging of the drainage.
The project would include both vegetative and mechanical measures, depending on the site condition. It is expected to be implemented from this year and the government hopes that its results would be felt from next year itself.
�We will sign an MoU with IITG which will prepare the project report. The measures would be taken without disturbing the settlements,� Soil Conservation Director S Choudhury told The Assam Tribune.
A team from the civil engineering department of IITG is likely to make a presentation before the Chief Minister, who is understood to have taken keen interest on the project. The team from IITG has studied the problem extensively and has come up with strategies to mitigate it, Choudhury said.
�The project components would include jute netting (laying down jute mesh mat over the hill like a landscape fabric) in steep hill slopes. We will also plant trees in between by making holes in the mats. The mats are compostable and will eventually mix with the soil,� Choudhury said.
Another component of the project would be construction of staggered blocks in some hill stretches to slow down the current of the flowing rainwater so that erosion is minimum. Retaining walls will also be another component of the project besides a campaign for promoting ecological management practices among the settlers in the hills.
�Through this project, we are aiming at reducing the erosion by around 50 to 60 per cent,� Choudhury said, adding that the estimated cost of the project would be around Rs 3 crore.
There are around 15 hills in the city, and focus of the project would be on the most vulnerable ones � at Chandmari, near GMCH, Kalapahar, Hengerabari, Sunsali, Geetanagar, etc., where heavy siltation has been reported.
Soil conservation officials admitted that illegal settlements in the hills have been the primary reason for the heavy erosion and siltation in the those areas.
