Guwahati, June 16: The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) today recovered the body of Raju Thapa, an auto-rickshaw driver who went missing after Tuesday's flash floods.

With this, the death toll in the flash floods that had inundated almost all the major parts of the city has risen to five. According to local residents, Thapa, who hailed from Betkuchi, was inebriated on Tuesday afternoon and toppled into an overflowing drain at Bonda near Narengi.

"His body was carried by the stream about 4km to 5km to Amgaon. Our SDRF personnel were searching for his body since the day he went missing. His body was stuck at a lagoon-like waterbody near the river at Kherbari in Amgaon. We recovered the body after being informed by the locals," R.C. Bhakat, an official of the fire and emergency services, saidhere today. Thapa's wife identified his body, Bhakat added.

The second splash of monsoon that started from Monday brought intermittent rain to the city. Despite a drop in the intensity, from 105.7mm on Tuesday to 54.2mm today, landslides were still being reported.

This afternoon, a portion of land fell off at Nilachal hill, on which Kamakhya temple and nine other Shakti temples are bustling with activity as pilgrims have started arriving ahead of Ambubachi Mela.

A Jalukbari police official said, "Around 2pm, the road link to Koutilinga temple near Kamakhya temple was blocked in the landslide. However, no casualty was reported."

According to the police, more than 200 pilgrims have come to the city for the fair that will start from Thursday and will last till June 26.

Source said the danger of a bigger landslide is looming large as the rains have not stopped.

"The city will receive more than five lakh pilgrims during the mela and with the vulnerable situation of Nilachal hill, it will become very risky for the pilgrims to visit the temple," Hiren Sharma, a resident of Nilachal hill, told The Telegraph.

"A team of the state disaster response force had reached the spot immediately after the landslide. We have kept a few personnel posted there for the night," Bhakat said.

The city will face intermittent rain over the next two days, the Borjhar-based Regional Meteorological Centre mentioned in its city weather forecast.

Guwahati development department minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said it was difficult to find a permanent solution to the problem of artificial floods in the city without the cooperation of Meghalaya government.

Sarma said the rainwater running down from adjacent Meghalaya hills causes heavy waterlogging in Guwahati and the cooperation of Meghalaya government was required to solve the problem.

He said the city's artificial floods problem was "very complex in nature" and finding a permanent solution to it was a "challenging job".

Sarma also blamed the loss of greenery on the city hills for the problem.

"Nevertheless, we are trying our best to solve this problem," he said on the sidelines of a programme organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) to felicitate the toppers of this year's matric and higher secondary examinations at the Madhabdev Auditorium of Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra here.

"The drains in the city do not have the capacity to flush out rainwater. But the good thing this time is that the water level receded four to five hours after the rainfall stopped," he said.

The state government, particularly Sarma, drew flak from various quarters for not doing enough to prevent the deluge.

The All Guwahati Students' Union (AGSU) today criticised the Kamrup (metro) district administration and the state government for not taking any scientific step to check the city's flash floods problem.

AGSU president Rajmil Ali said departments like Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), public works department (PWD) and Assam Power Distribution Company Limited are busy trying to save their skin by passing the buck.

GMC mayor Mrigen Sarania said they will consider providing employment to the widow of Anwar Hussain in the GMC on contractual basis. Ali died last Tuesday while trying to save Pushan Kalita, a school student.

Sarania said the matter would be taken up in the next general meeting of the corporation.

Awareness fails

The District Disaster Management Authority of Kamrup (metro) said its Rs 2 lakh awareness programme in 366 landslide-prone sites across the city, involving 12 NGOs, did not bear fruit as dwellers of those places refused to shift to safer locations.

The authority made this statement in the midst of havoc created by several landslide incidents here in the last few days.

According to the authority, awareness meetings on possible threats due to landslides were held and NGO volunteers went door-to-door but the people were not ready to leave their places. This can lead to a major hazard in the city.

The authority had identified 366 sites in the city, comprising 14 hills, as landslide-prone in 2013.

Around 65,894 households live in these areas, according to a survey carried out in 2010. As the number of households in Guwahati is increasing at an average of three to four per cent per year, the Authority stated that now the number of households in those areas may increase by nearly 30 per cent.

"Awareness drives such as public meetings and door-to-door campaigns were carried out before the monsoon. People tried to understand the gravity of the situation but they later declined to shift from the landslide-prone sites. They fear they will become landless after shifting and this is the main problem," said Ranjit Pathak, a member of Cloud and Brighten, an NGO.

The NGO has conducted awareness drives and documentation in landslide-prone areas of Noonmati and Kharghuli, which comprise nearly 9,000 households.

A proposal to treat the soil in all landslide-prone sites was sent to the state's soil conservation department by the Authority in 2014. In reality, no soil treatment work was carried out by the department because of which landslides occur at the same locations every year. This year, in the last few days, landslides were reported in Nilachal hill, Chunchali hill, Hengerabari hill, Jyoti Nagar hill, Kharghuli hill and Nabagraha hill.

"We got the proposal from the disaster management authority in 2014 but unfortunately, our department does not have the funds to treat the soil in the landslide-prone sites of Guwahati. We have given presentations about the project at the ministerial level many times but we have not got any response yet," said an official of soil conservation department, Pradip Dutta.

GMC mayor Mrigen Sarania said, "Action was taken in the last few months to solve the problem of waterlogging. Unfortunately, we could not complete the work. So waterlogging wreaked havoc in Guwahati in the last few days. Every year, we spend about Rs 40 crore for developing the drainage system and desiltation. But this year, due to excess rainfall, we are unable to control the situation."

Deputy commissioner of Kamrup (metro) M. Angamuthu said: "The landslide problem can be handled with a comprehensive range of solutions from technology to people's participation."

Additional reporting by Manash Pratim Dutta and Avishek Sengupta