Heavy rains cause severe waterlogging in Guwahati

Guwahati: Heavy rains on Sunday morning lashed Guwahati, causing severe waterlogging in different parts of the city, officials said.

Areas such as Chandmari, Beltola, Hatigaon, Six Mile, Noonmati, Kahilipara, etc. experienced flash flood woes as waterlogging disrupted the traffic movement in these localities.

People have failed to move out of their houses for the necessary work.

Waterlogging is a major issue in Guwahati. A few days ago, the city reeled under flash floods with citizens blaming the state government for causing distress in their daily lives.

However, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma alleged that the city experienced flash floods due to large-scale deforestation by a private university and other educational institutions in the Jorabat Hills on the outskirts of Guwahati.

He claimed that the private varsity -- University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) -- owned by a Bengali-origin Muslim from Assam's Karimganj district has been waging "flood-jihad" in Guwahati.

According to CM Sarma, the university set up in 2008 did large-scale deforestation over the last few years in the Jorabat Hills and water from the hills descended to Guwahati causing severe waterlogging in the city.

The Chief Minister also blamed the construction of a recent medical college on the varsity campus and said that deforestation had increased manifold in the hills due to the new construction.

Chief Minister Sarma even suggested that students from Assam should stop studying at the university and the building works will automatically stop there.

He also said that Guwahati teachers should stop going to the USTM.

"The varsity authority did not take help from an architect while developing new buildings. If they had done so, trees in the hills could have been saved. They (USTM) have cut the hills in a very ruthless way by bulldozers," he added.

The USTM authority, however, denied allegations levelled by the Assam CM and the university spokesperson said, "USTM campus area is a small part of the Baridua area till Jorabat in Ri-Bhoi district which has largely developed on both sides of the G.S. Road. USTM campus contributes maybe a miniscule portion of the total water that flows down the Kiling Road through the various drains to the G.S. Road (Guwahati-Shillong Road) on both sides of the road."

"The campus infrastructure expansions have all requisite permissions from the Meghalaya government and the building of the medical college is being guided by Delhi- and Mumbai-based consultants and has also been reviewed by IIT experts," the spokesperson added.

USTM has nearly 6,000 students and the university received an "A" grade in the NAAC accreditation in 2021.