The city’s dying hills

The once-beautiful hills in and around Guwahati are on the verge of extinction. This is happening not just because the hills are being encroached upon by gangs of land-hungry people at the instigation of a section of politicians, but also because of the rapid increase in built-up urban development happening in the hills. This is not any allegation or political statement, but the findings of a research study conducted by two scholars at Gauhati University, which have been published as the lead news item of the Sunday edition of this newspaper. According to the findings of the research work, this trend of increased built-up urban development—if at all it can be termed “development”—has – has alarmingly affected major reserved forests in and around Guwahati city, these being the Fatasil Reserved Forest, South Kalapahar Reserved Forest, Amchang Reserved Forest, and Hengrabari Reserved Forest. The news item has also mentioned the percentage of encroachment and built-up urban development in these reserved forests. According to the findings of the research study, the rate of disappearance of forest areas in and around Guwahati in absolute terms has been 163 hectares per year. While it has also been stated that the proliferation of Guwahati’s concrete jungle has not just adversely affected the city’s ecological balance, the fact remains that this has also affected the lives of people, particularly taxpayer citizens. Keeping in view the findings of the research study, one can only conclude that all is not well in Guwahati and that the overall health of the city has been going from bad to worse with each passing day. How this trend can be arrested or halted, and how the process can be reversed for good, depends primarily on the government. It is for the government to decide. There is, however, a ray of hope, especially when one finds that the government is serious about protecting Silsako Beel. The manner in which eviction has been carried out in Silsako Beel has already been highly appreciated by the law-abiding citizens of the state and the tax-paying residents of Guwahati. It is unfortunate that a section of politicians is still trying to put hurdles in the process of clearing encroachers from Silsako Beel. The same is also happening in the case of removing encroachers from Amchang Reserved Forest. In this backdrop, the law-abiding citizens and tax-payer residents of Guwahati also need to raise their voice and generate strong public opinion in favour of saving Guwahati from an imminent ecological disaster.