File picture of a flooded street

Feb. 22: The city is likely to experience more floods later this year, even worse than last year?s. And the Meghalaya government is being blamed for such a grim prediction.

The Assam-Meghalaya committee, set up to improve conditions in the catchment area in the neighbouring state, has got bogged down and is lying defunct.

Officials in Assam squarely blame deforestation and rampant quarrying in the Meghalaya hills catchment, saying these will exacerbate the problem, when water gushes down to streams here.

An inter-state committee with officials of the forest, soil conservation and public works departments of both states, along with representatives of Kamrup (metropolitan) district and Meghalaya?s Ri Bhoi district, was constituted in June last year.

?Unfortunately, the initiative fizzled out after a few meetings last year. The committee is now in a defunct state,? said a source in the Kamrup (metropolitan) district administration. ?Meghalaya is not much interested in it since Assam is bearing the brunt of the problem.?

The source said Meghalaya imposed Section 144 in Ri Bhoi district prohibiting earth-cutting and deforestation after repeated requests by Dispur. But the ban has not been implemented strictly. Deforestation and a spurt in quarry and mining activities in Ri Bhoi district, which borders Guwahati, are spelling doom for the city.

Unabated felling and stone quarrying are continuing in the upper reaches of the Meghalaya hills, where the Basistha-Bahini river system originates. For some 10 km in Meghalaya, the Basistha-Bahini river is known as the Umtenga or Umriang. It meets Deepor Beel and ultimately merges into the Brahmaputra at Khanamukh, a city suburb.

Official sources said the gravity of the situation would be realised only after the rainy season sets in. For, after a few months, the river will carry huge loads of sediment from the Meghalaya hills and deposit them in the foothills. This will raise the riverbed and subsequently inundate vast swathes, particularly Basistha and nearby areas such as Ganesh Nagar and south Ganesh Nagar.

?Moreover, owing to the destruction of vegetation and a spurt in human activities in Mylliem reserve forest of Meghalaya, the velocity of the water flow has also increased over the years, leading to bank erosion, bank cutting and scouring in many areas. The increase in the river?s velocity has caused destruction of habitations, households, properties, communication networks and homestead gardens in Basistha and adjoining areas. This is likely to be even higher this year,? the official warned. ?Unless protective measures are taken at the Meghalaya hills along the course of the Basistha-Bahini, piecemeal measures in the foothill areas are not going to solve the problem.?

Though the state soil conservation department has taken up protective measures such as revetments, spurs and boulder pitching to protect the river banks from erosion in the lower reaches here, this will not yield the desired results unless similar steps are taken by the Meghalaya government in the upper reaches.

Divisional officer of the south bank division of soil conservation department, J. Malakar, said under the flood damage repair scheme, the department is carrying out protection activities at Ganesh Nagar area to save the banks of the Basistha-Bahini from erosion.

?The protection works have streamlined the river course from the foothills to the city. Siltation has been minimised. But similar steps must be taken in Meghalaya to solve the problem,? he said.