From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of capital Guwahati on Saturday after artificial floods caused by heavy rains on Friday claimed at least one person and threw life completely out of gear.
The gateway to the North East India, the city of Guwahati has become virtually unlivable due to unplanned growth both vertically and horizontally, rampant encroachment on hill areas surrounding it, clogged drains, narrow roads, inadequate garbage disposal system and traffic congestion round the clock along the arterial routes even though the government, municipal and development authorities make tall claims about various on-going schemes for development of this populous city.
Life was totally thrown out of gear in the city in the wake of a thunder shower that lashed out for over an hour on Friday evening. With clogged and inadequate drainage system failing to carry the sudden storm water, the roads in the city became swirling streams of rain waters and thousands of vehicles remained stranded on those over-flooded roads for hours till midnight.
The main thoroughfare of the city, Guwahati-Shillong Road too was submerged under waist deep water at certain points while the situation was worse along Zoo Road and GNB Road.
An employee of state Treasury Department, one Binoy Mohan Das was swept away inside a manhole on the pavement by the current of flashfloods that inundated posh Zoo-Narangi crossing in the city on Friday evening and has remained untraced since then.
Enraged city residents on Saturday blocked traffic along arterial Zoo Road for hours on Saturday in protest of the failure of the administration to protect lives and property of residents in the wake of such natural phenomenon like thunder showers, hail-storm etc.. that is common in the North East.
The thunder showers triggered landslides in some hill areas in the city that caused mud and slush to get deposited on roads in foot hills areas like in Hengerabar, Kahilipara, Lal Ganesh etc. blocking the traffic movement. Thousands of residences , a large number of lanes and by-lanes in the city areas like Pub-Sarania, Zoo-Narangi Road, Nabin Nagar, Hengerabari, Ambari, Fatasil Ambari, Panjabari, Chachal etc, are still under water.
No wonder, the prices of real estate is still sky-rocketing in this bustling hub of human beings. A square feet of built-up area for residential purpose in the city cost anything in the range of Rs 3000 to Rs 5500 and the rice is astronomical for commercial built-up areas. This is because the regional has failed to develop another big city so far to attract business and people.
(EoM)
