Assam govt to invest Rs 200 cr to combat flash flood 

Guwahati, Oct 9 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday announced that the state government will invest Rs 200 crore to combat the challenges of flash flood in Guwahati city and a resilient infrastructure will be developed in the coming days.

Taking to X, Sarma wrote, “Our focus is on creating resilient infrastructure to tackle the challenges of urban flooding in Guwahati, accentuated by climate change. We are investing ₹200cr in the coming days to create interventions which will help in mitigating this pressing issue.”

The citizens of Guwahati faced enormous problems during this year’s monsoon season due to flooding. The whole city came to a standstill on multiple occasions and the normal life was heavily impacted.

However, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier 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 Sarma, the university which was 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.

He also blamed the construction of a recent medical college on the varsity campus and said that deforestation has increased many folds in the hills due to the new construction.

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 teachers from Guwahati should also 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 labelled by the Assam Chief Minister 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 minuscule 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 Govt of Meghalaya 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 “A” grade in the NAAC accreditation in 2021.