Guwahati Municipal Corporation clears drains to tackle flash floods

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is gearing up to ensure a flood-free city prior to the rainy season to avoid any mishaps and ensure safety for the commuters.

There are a total of 330 drains under the GMC, where the cleaning drive has started under the "Mission Flood Free Programme."

GMC Commissioner Devajyoti Hazarika said that the GMC has divided works under 6 divisions. In every division, Supervisor Distillation Team is working to clear the drains. Over 1,000 people are working under Mission Flood Free Program, said Hazarika.

"In Guwahati, there are not only drains of the GMC. There are drains of various other departments, which include – Water Resources, NF Railway drain, CPW, PWD, OIL, Pipelines, ONGC, NHAI, BSNL, and GMDA," he added. The GMC has made a report and a plan of action regarding the defects in drains of aforementioned departments. Representatives of the departments were called and a joint field verification session was conducted by the GMC. The report with the plan of action was handed over to the respective departments to start the cleaning drive from their end.

Hazarika said the GMC is not being able to use machinery to execute the cleaning process due to the large amount of plastic materials which are jammed in the drains. The plastic materials have to be picked from drains manually. Further, the Commissioner appealed to the people not to throw plastic inside the drains. The GMC is conduction sanitization drive in various areas of the city including the containment zones. According to reports, 91 NGOs are assisting the GMC in the drive. 220 spraying machines, 6 fire tenders, and 2 Varun vehicles are being used in the sanitization drive.

Meanwhile, in a bid to tackle waterlogging, the GMC has installed dewatering pumps in Nabin Nagar, Anil Nagar and Lachit Nagar. Another 15 dewatering pumps with different capacity are kept ready which will be used in case of flash floods, added Hazarika.