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Survey of rivers soon to detect encroachments

By MANASH PRATIM DUTTA

GUWAHATI, May 12 - The Kamrup Metro district administration in collaboration with all departments concerned will carry out a survey of the Bharalu and Pamohi rivers soon to detect encroachments in these two rivers, Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu told The Assam Tribune.

Bharalu and Pamohi, two main channels which carry water from various parts of Guwahati during the rainy season, are badly hit by encroachment mainly because of which the city faces tremendous waterlogging.

Meanwhile, at a recently held meeting of the District Development Committee, DC Pegu also directed completion of the work on the entire drainage system on a war-footing.

It is noteworthy that although all departments concerned have been spending crores of rupees to mitigate the menace of waterlogging in Guwahati, there is still a lack of any long-term planning.

Sources said desiltation of the drains in a continuous manner is the one and only solution left for all the departments to pump out excess water from the city during the rainy season.

Moreover, in the last few years waterlogging has become a common scenario on the outskirts of the city also due to unplanned urbanisation. Especially in the eastern part of the city, the water flowing down from the hills of Meghalaya caused severe waterlogging last year.

In this connection the district administration carried out a survey and found out that the Silsako Beel is the only place to dispose the water coming down from Meghalaya.

The survey report said that it is not possible to divert the water coming down from Meghalaya from Khanapara to Basistha river. The only option is to divert the stormwater through the channel at College of Veterinary College to Silsako Beel. Moreover, the water coming from Meghalaya near the Ganesh Mandir will have to be diverted through the rear of Greenwood Resort to the beel.

The survey report also suggested setting up of an alternative channel to divert water from Khanapara area via Baghorbori, Kalakshetra, DPS and Satgaon to Bondajan, which will minimise the water load on the Silsako Beel.

To mitigate the waterlogging problem in 10th Mile area, the report suggested that there is a need to enhance the cross-culvert and to widen the drain along NH-37.

In case of waterlogging in Jorabat area, the survey report said that the problem in that area will be solved by widening the drain up to six metres where there is also scope for the water resource department to carry out a feasibility survey for a stormwater drain outside the periphery of the NHAI and connecting it with the Digaru river. �Again, the NHAI may be asked to widen the drain along the NH-7 from Jorabat to Byrnihat for increasing the carrying capacity of stormwater coming from Meghalaya.�

The survey report also recommended review of the entire drainage system including the cross-drainage from Jalukbari to Koinadhara by considering the present scenario of infrastructure and demographic profile along with future probability of development, which is needed to enhance the discharging capacity of the drainage system on both sides of NH-37.

The survey also detected various loopholes due to which there is waterlogging on the outskirts of the city.

The report said that the only cross-culvert from Jalukbari confluence to Satmile on NH-37 is about two metres in breadth, which obstructs free flow of water from the entire Gauhati University campus and nearby areas. So there is a need to enhance the breadth of the cross-culvert up to eight metres.

The report also called for construction of an RCC drain and connecting it with the Brahmaputra to mitigate waterlogging problem of a portion of the university campus and its adjoining areas. For this a thorough survey ought to be carried out by department concerned, the report added.

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