Artificial Flood: Never Ending Problem in Guwahati

The artificial flood in Guwahati has been a never-ending problem and incessant rain since two days has once again brought the city under flood.

Although the district administration and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has taken up measures to prevent the city from having an artificial flood but still it reels under flood although after a certain spell of rain.

On Wednesdayalso, areas of Zoo Road, Chandmari, Anil Nagar, Lachit Nagar reels under floodand where the normal life of the citizens have brought to a standstill.

Every year, with the onset of the monsoons, the city gets ready to bear the brunt of flash floods and like every year the government and the concerned department come up with the predictable answer that from the next year the city will be completely free from artificial floods but it seems that the "next year" has never come for GMDA making it the biggest hoax 'floating' around.

The GMDA had also come with a new project to make the city free from floods and provide relief to the citizens by constructing an RCC drain from Meghalaya to Pamohi towards Deepor Beel to divert the rainwater coming from Meghalaya but the project has not yet completed for which the city still have to bear the brunt of the artificial flood.

The concernedauthorities have been asked repeatedly to solve the problem of artificial floodbut they are least bothered about the problems faced by the citizens.

Thesituation of floods has gone from bad to worse due to indiscriminate/unplanneddevelopment of the city, inadequate drainage network, absence of separate seweragesystem and inefficient garbage management. As the natural water exit channels – Bharalu, Mora Bharalu, Bahiniand Basistha rivulets take the additional burden of storm water, the drainagesystem often collapses due to heavy siltation, illegal encroachment, garbagedumping, etc.