GUWAHATI, Aug 8 � Rains in the past few days have left a huge deposit of muddy earth on either side of the MRD and GNB roads, resulting in serious inconvenience to the people.
In fact, not just these two roads but most of the roads of the city have been facing this problem during the rainy season. It has also been causing severe dust pollution in the city.
With no steps being taken by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) or the district administration to clear the mud, and further rainfall predicted in the coming days, the situation stands to deteriorate further.
�This exposes the utter lack of professionalism and responsibility on the part of the GMC and the administration. On the one hand, the authorities have been a total failure in containing water-logging and on the other hand they cannot even clear the mud left by the deluge. And all this after we pay taxes regularly,� a resident of Silpukhuri rued.
Of late, the problem has worsened in the area, with every burst of shower bringing with it large amounts of loose earth from the hills that have witnessed a spurt in human settlements. And when the sun is out for a couple of days, the mud would transform into dry earth, resulting in dust pollution in what has been a recurring phenomenon.
A GMC official said that most of the residents in the city�s hills did not follow construction norms for hilly areas, which was aggravating the problem of soil erosion. This apart, widespread encroachment even on the reserve forests located in the hills has done irreparable damage to the hill geology and ecology.
�The need is to have hill-friendly designs for houses and other structures and minimizing hill-cutting while making room for any structure on the hills. Unfortunately this is not being adhered to in the city,� he said.
Killer landslides, too, have been a recurring phenomenon in the city, thanks largely to the rapid degradation of the hills due to mounting anthropological pressures.
According to the GMC official, allowing only the correct engineering interventions along with traditional wisdom was a must to protect the hills. He said that the hills must not be allowed to part with their greenery as well as the soil, as landslides on the city hills were mostly man-made, stemming from disturbance to the hill geology and ecology.
