GUWAHATI: The devastating flash flood that caused tremendous harassment and misery to the people besides causing losses to property in many areas in Guwahati city especially at Jorabat on Assam-Meghalaya boundary on Friday has been attributed to massive and rampant hill cutting along both sides of the inter-state boundary in the area.
A senior forest official here informed that, hill cutting, encroachment of hills by people have over the years caused tremendous harm to the natural environment in Guwahati and its surrounding areas as a result of which flash floods have become common in the wake of a spell on incessant rains. The encroachment has resulted in wiping out of the forest cover on the hilly slopes thereby tremendously reducing the water retaining capacity on those slopes hence the rain water rushes down the hill slopes to flood the dwelling areas on the plains below besides inundating the roads and highways in no time.
The unplanned hill cutting on both the sides of the inter-state boundary, that is basically the Highway connecting Guwahati to Upper Assam, has created a situation where in the wake of heavy rainfall the water flows in all possible directions from hills instead of flowing to earlier natural streams that used to carry it, according to the forest official.
It was also learnt that there had not been any joint mechanism involving both Assam and Meghalaya government to address the problem of hill cutting, deforestation and encroachment in those hilly areas on the inter-state boundary. It has created a grave problem for the people as on date. Jorabat area turns a watery grave after every heavy downpour now-a-days while the busy highways connecting Guwahati to Upper Assam and Shillong get clogged with stranded vehicles for hours.
