Guwahati, July 3: The Guwahati development department has let Rs 54 crore of state funds go down the drain with as many as 32 stormwater drainage schemes undertaken with the money failing to rid the city of its flood woes.

The department monitors the task of clearing the city’s arterial drainage system, the Bharalu river, of debris and oversees 32 different stormwater drainage projects by various government departments and agencies like the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

The GMC and the GMDA are under this development department, headed by senior bureaucrat M.G.V.K. Bhanu, the commissioner and secretary to chief minister Tarun Gogoi. The chief minister himself holds the Guwahati development department portfolio.

The public works department, the town and country planning department and the irrigation and flood control department have been implementing several other stormwater drainage projects in the city.

Going by the latest official progress report, a copy of which is in possession of The Telegraph, the city should have been free of waterlogged homes and streets.

A report prepared by the development department has shown 100 per cent progress of the Nabin Nagar area storm drainage scheme (phase I), undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 2.62 crore.

A similar report has been filed for the Pub-Sarania Rajgarh scheme, undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 7.4 lakh.

However, the two areas reeled under knee-deep water in the wake of the recent spell of rains.

Apart from the two neighbourhoods, R.G. Baruah Road, Chandmari, Silpukhuri, Maligaon, Jyotinagar, Udalbakra, Bamunimaidam, Santipur, Lakhtokia, A.T. Road, Ambari, Tarun Nagar and Panjabari were the worst-affected by waterlogging.

The GMDA authorities yesterday attributed the waterlogging in the city to “localised obstruction” in the drainage system.

The city’s civic authority, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, claimed that the artificial floods were caused by the “failure” of the GMDA to clear silt from the Bharalu.

Important projects like re-sectioning and clearing of the Mora Bharalu, construction of the Chilarainagar-Sreemantapur stormwater drainage, the silt pit near Red Cross Hospital and construction of drains in the GNB Road-Hedayatpur area revealed no progress.

A retired government official said the root of the problem was the haphazard and faulty manner of execution of the projects. “Positive results could have been expected had all the 32 projects progressed simultaneously. But the partial implementation has only compounded the problem of waterlogging,” he said.

Another reason for the unprecedented floods this year has been encroachment on the city’s wetland areas like the Borchola beel, which serves as a natural catchment area during the rains.

The prime example is the encroachment of the green belt — along National Highway 37 off the city — by a cluster of new school buildings.

According to a source, a top functionary of the GMDA is a partner in one of the schools.