PIL on Guwahati waterlogging
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam government has informed the Gauhati High Court that Haskoning DHV Consulting Pvt. Ltd. will prepare a GIS-based comprehensive drainage master plan and detailed project report (DPR) for Guwahati City within nine months after the issuance of the work order, i.e., August 21, 2024.
State Advocate General D. Saikia informed a division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice N. Unni Krishnan Nair that heard the PIL (14/2024) filed by the North East Eco Development Society on the problem of waterlogging in Guwahati. The agency submitted an inspection report for the Guwahati Drainage Master Plan, which, according to the Advocate General, contains the following aspects:
(i) Introduction with project background, objectives, and scope of work; (ii) project area, (iii) approach & methodology; (iv) scope of topographical survey and ground investigations, including preliminary assessment outcomes; (v) quality assurance plan, and (vi) project schedule, milestones/deliverables, and work plan.
The Advocate General informed the court that the inspection report submitted by the said consultancy agency would be placed by way of filing an additional affidavit by the next date of listing of the PIL. Advocate K. N. Choudhury, amicus curiae, also made certain valuable suggestions in the matter.
Akash Deep Baruah, IFS (Retd.), has made a PowerPoint presentation highlighting the reasons for flooding in the Guwahati city and also proposed some solutions that can be taken into consideration for tackling the problem of flooding in the Guwahati city.
The bench said, “We appreciate the efforts of Mr. Baruah, IFS (Retd.), who has also submitted a comprehensive report in this regard.”
The Advocate General submitted that the State is ready to take the services of Baruah, IFS (Retd.) for tackling the problem of flooding in the Guwahati city and assures this Court that he will facilitate that the suggestions of Baruah, IFS (Retd.) be taken into consideration at the appropriate level by considering the inputs suggested by him.
“We are of the view that the State Government is serious in tackling the problem of water logging and flooding in the Guwahati city, and we hope that effective measures shall be taken at the earliest to tackle the problem,” the bench said, and it listed the PIL for October 29, 2024, for its next hearing.
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