JORABAT, Aug 17 - Hundreds of people living on the city outskirts near Jorabat formed a human chain today in protest against the proposed Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility (ISWMF) for the Guwahati Capital Region in Tamulikuchi area.
It has been learnt that a 27-bigha plot near Jorabat covered by dag number 32 in Tamulikuchi NC under Sonapur mouza of Sonapur revenue circle has been allotted to GMC to set up the facility.
Local residents, including members of the Assam unit of All India Tribal Students� Organisation (AITSO), Tamulikuchi Village Development Committee, Ambhere Village Development Committee and senior citizens of the area, formed a long human chain for more than an hour to assert their opposition to the waste management plant.
Maintaining social distancing norms, the protesters refrained from raising slogans and instead let their placards do the talking. The placards carried slogans like �We don�t want dumping ground�, �We need clean air and clean water� and �Save our village, save our trees & tribes�.
The locals slammed the government for ignoring the people�s concerns over the ISWMF at Tamulikuchi, as officials of the Kamrup Metro administration during their visit to the site earlier, had assured that representatives from village groups and other protesting organisations would be consulted before handing over the land for the project.
The locals are angry because the allotted site is along a well-settled village with a tribal majority population and is located behind the Goat Research Station (GRS). It may be mentioned that the GRS has been functioning there since 1973.
Interestingly, the GRS is the only goat research station in Assam and the North East. Located at 13th Mile near Jorabat, it is functioning under the Directorate of Research (Veterinary) of the Assam Agricultural University. The GRS has helped transform the living standards of people involved in goat farming through various schemes and programmes.
It has also been learnt that the administration had earlier promised to take the representatives on a tour to a leading solid waste management facility in New Delhi before allotting the land, to reassure them that the facility here will not harm the environment.
The protesters have demanded shifting of the site to some other place.
