Guwahati: An eviction drive to clear encroachments along drains and rivers in Guwahati will be launched soon to make the city flood-free, a minister said on Friday.
The drive will be carried out as part of ‘Mission flood free Guwahati’, under which de-siltation of drains and rivers in the city has already commenced, Assam Urban Affairs Minister Ashok Singhal said.
Talking to reporters after a review meeting of the initiative, Singhal said, “We have planned eviction in many places in Guwahati where drains and rivers have encroached.”
“As a result of the encroachments, these outlets have become narrowed and water channel width compromised,” he said.
The Kamrup Metropolitan deputy commissioner has drawn up a list of these sites and eviction will be done within the next 15 days, the minister said.
The meeting was attended by engineers and officials of PWD, Water Resources, Assam Power Distribution Corporation Ltd, Northeast Frontier Railway, BSNL, GMC, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and other related departments and agencies.
He also said as part of the mission, the de-siltation of roads and rivers in the city has already started.
De-siltation of drains is being done by Public Works Department (PWD) and of the five big and small rivers that flow through the city by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), he added.
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Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had last month chaired a meeting to discuss means to make the state’s largest city free of artificial floods.
The CM had said the government will bring in engineering solutions to solve the problems of flash floods and water logging in the city, besides clearing encroachments and de-siltation of water-carrying channels.
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