Assam Tribune: Guwahati: Friday, September 08, 2017.
How sincere
are the efforts of the government to tackle the recurrent flash floods in the
city? The following instance of flip-flop is bound to lay bare the hollowness
of all the tall claims made by Dispur.In 2008, the Guwahati Development
Department, after a “detailed inspection,” had issued an order (GDD 147/ 2008/11)
directing demolition of 81 bridges/culverts constructed illegally on the River
Bahini which were in “some way or the other impeding flow of monsoon water in
the river”.
Five years
later, Sarumatariya resident Debendra Narayan Deka, who had been fighting a
lonely battle to save the river since 2007, filed an RTI to know the progress
of the demolition works.
In the RTI
reply dated December 26, 2013, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation stated that
“demolishing works of 55 bridges/culverts were done as identified by the water
resources department” and “records of 26 undemolished bridges/culverts were not
available.”
“I went
several times to the GMC. But every time it was a disappointment. They even
could not give the list of the demolished bridges. One of the officers said ‘no
reply is also a reply’. Finding no other way, I thought of going to the court
in 2015. No one was there to support me. Thankfully my lawyers Ratul Goswami
and MP Bhuyan took it as a social cause and I did not have to spend much,”
Deka, now 73 years of age, told The Assam Tribune today.
Deka, a
former ASEB employee, saw some ray of hope when the Gauhati High Court last
week ordered demolition of the remaining 26 bridges.
“The order
dated 17.6.2008 of the Government of Assam was never put to challenge by
anyone, but sadly, it has not been fully implemented in letter and spirit by
the authorities concerned. We, accordingly, in public interest, direct all the
competent authorities of the Government of Assam to execute the order without
any further delay and demolish the 26 illegally constructed bridges after
giving a month’s notice to the interested parties,” a division bench of Chief
Justice Ajit Singh and Justice Manojit Bhuyan said, also directing the
authorities to maintain the official 8.5-metre width of the river all along the
course.
The GDD
demolition order was based on a report submitted by the water resources
department, which identified 80 bridges responsible “for bottlenecks in the
Bahini river”. The bridge constructed by the State Bank of India in front of
its local head office at Dispur and the one constructed by NABARD were among
those identified to be demolished.
The rear
portion of Kushan Plaza and the front boundary wall of Assam Tea Warehouse, all
located within stone’s throw from the Secretariat, “seem” to be in the bed of
the Bahini, according to the water resources department report.
But for
reasons unknown these structures never came under the scanner of the GMC, GDD
or the district administration which have been making tall claims about their
initiatives to check the city’s flash floods and spending crores on them.
“The Bahini
has been heavily encroached, limiting its width to only five metres at places
(original 8.5 metres). These structures have been responsible for the heavy
flooding in the catchment areas during the floods,” Deka said.
The
8,400-metre Bahini originates in the Umtyanga region in Meghalaya and flows
through Basistha, Rukminigaon and Hengerabari before joining the Bharalu near
the State Zoo. It is a natural stormwater and a sewerage discharge drain.
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