Skip to content Skip to navigation

Conservation of rivers

By Daya Nath Singh |

The Society for Socio-Economic-Development in the Region (SSEDR), a city based NGO, has raised a question mark on the initiative taken by the Assam Government with Pollution Control Board (PCB), Assam for conservation of Bharalu and Kalang rivers. It said that the State holder consultation workshop held on December 18, 2013, was mainly attended by the officers of various level of State and Central governments and representatives of Louis Berger Group (LBG) and DHI (India). The draft minutes of meeting has shown very unsatisfactory presence of non-biased technical expert and public representatives. This has raised a question regarding the sincerity and transparency of the whole process.

The SSEDR president Abdul Wahed and Secretary, Samar Jyoti Bezbaruah jointly addressing the media persons in Guwahati recently said although regarding the sewerage it has been mentioned in the draft DPR that railway colonies, refinery colonies and defense establishment in the city have their own sewerage treatment facilities, the actual field survey shows a very different picture. It is alleged that in paperwork the treatment facilities and sanitation system exists and are working, but in actual sense they are either outdated or due to lack of technical knowledge or fund they are not working properly. Has there been any field specific survey done by the authorized agencies regarding this particular aspect while preparing this particular draft DPR, it should have been mentioned.

Further, they added that the length of river Bharalu according to the draft DPR prepared by LBG and DHI (India) Water and Environment Pvt Ltd, is seven (7) kms, that starts at Junali bridge and ends at Bharalumukh. In an answer to a RTI question to SSEDR, the water resource department, Guwahati East has mentioned its length as 6,315 meter. It has also mentioned that this river starts at Junali bridge and ends at Bharalumukh. The Mechanical Division, West Region, Guwahati, has mentioned the length of the same river as 5,500 meters. In both these cases the length mentioned in the draft DPR is contradictory. The organization has demanded clarification regarding the correct length of the river.

The draft DPR further adds that Guwahati is one of the major industrial centers of Assam and the Northeast region and major type of factories are chemical, fertilizer, petroleum and refineries, most of which fall under the guidelines of hazardous wastes and produce highly toxic wastes that may cause water, air and soil pollution. They feel that there was lack of proper field survey regarding this particular matter in the draft DPR. It is clear because there is no data provided regarding the actual scenario. No specific number of industries and their contribution of pollution has been mentioned thoroughly in the draft DPR, they added.

They mentioned the example of the refinery drain that comes out from the refinery campus Noonmati and flows through the New Guwahati railway campus as shown in the above pictures where it meets with various kinds of waste like engine lubricants and byproducts that are drained off in the same refinery drain. People from neighboring areas also use this particular drain for disposal of human excreta as shown in the above pictures. After that the drain flows and eventually falls into the Bharalu river at Junali. The refinery and railway establishments try to justify their stand by showing treatment plant, but in reality the provided pictures show another scenario. Slug and chemical waste from both refinery and railways are allegedly disposed in the drain without proper treatment. They wanted to know if any field specific survey has been done by the respective authority regarding this?.

They further mentioned that in the draft it has been mentioned that excavated sediment would be placed in dump trucks and transported to a series of central processing area. The exact location of the temporary and permanent disposal areas has not been mentioned exactly by name of the location. The amount of waste that will be generated in this process is 2,98,416 cubic meter as mentioned in the draft DPR. In a city like Guwahati where there is already a scarcity of solid and liquid waste disposal areas, such a huge quantity of waste will definitely crate a problem. Already the solid waste disposal grounds of GMC like Borgaon area, which also falls under greater Deeporbill area is alleged to be completely polluted due to untreated garbage disposal. Such matters are already raising the eyebrows of the concerned citizens of Guwahati. It is very important to look into this matter very seriously. Hence, the NGO demanded to mention the name of location projected for disposal in details. They further added that similar irregularities can also be seen in Kolong river draft DPR too. Many doubtful loopholes which can lead to future problems can be spotted in both documents, they added.

 

 

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Another baby wild elephant died in Udalguri

6 Sep 2009 - 4:15am | Jayanta Kumar Das
Another shocking example of the death of a baby wild elephant in Udalguri district has come to light to much disappointment of people. Instead of finding the cause of death, the dead body was dumped...

Sericulture exhibition at Udalguri

6 Dec 2017 - 7:04pm | AT News
TANGLA: The sericulture exhibition cum demonstration programme concluded in Udalguri with all success. Jointly rganised by Directorate of Sericulture BTC and Central Silk Board for the silk...

Indian and Laos envoys hopeful of better ties

8 Jun 2016 - 10:55pm | Abdul Gani
Laos PDR Ambassador to India Southam Sakonhninhorm and Indian Ambassador to Laso Ravi Shankar Aisola who met Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal during their visit to Assam, have expressed hope...

Rishang Keishing laid to rest

24 Aug 2017 - 10:12pm | AT News Imphal
Manipur on Thursday paid homage to former Chief Minister and Congress veteran leader Rishang Keishing at his funeral held at his Mantripukhri private residence here.  Rishang Keishing breathed...

Other Contents by Author

Time to bring work culture back

The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi had expressed his views on the importance of 'healthy work culture' in the Harijan newspaper of 15th October,1938, emphasizing on hard work by the people of the country for attaining the goal of freedom. He dared to declare that 'declaring his birthday as a holiday should be treated as a cognizable offence'. This was a clear indication that the 'Great Soul' was confident of the might of his people, which later on succeeded in bringing freedom to the country. His experiments on Swadeshi movement brought good results. But it seems that the present situation has completely changed the whole thing and Mahatma’s dreams are shattered.Unfortunately, with...

Media not for malicious use

The most respected and appreciated growth of the print media in Assam and particularly in Guwahati, for more than a decade seems to have taken a destructive path giving birth to a trend of malice among the communities they belong. It is now being used for personal grudge among the so called high profile people in the society.Since most of the media houses are controlled by major business houses, it has been noticed that they have themselves become news for last few months through their own acts and publication. Recently, it has been noticed that a few vernacular news papers defying all the ethics of journalism, have started mudslinging on their rivals for quite some time. Knowing it very...

Dangerous trend of Neo-journalism

Since the year 1989, Guwahati, the gateway to the north eastern India, has seen a mushroom growth in the Fourth Estate with entry of a number of newspapers and periodicals in various languages. Earlier, a few English and Assamese newspapers were published in Guwahati.  For getting the major and detailed news, the people had to wait till evening for newspapers from Delhi and Kolkata. No doubt the haphazard growth in the print media gave an opportunity to a large number of unemployed educated youths to join this challenging profession of prestige. With the information technology witnessing development at fast pace, the media houses failed to get the competent and trained workforce to...

Is India a Hindu Nation?

India’s Lok Sabha polls in 2014, has brought a significant change in political scenario of the country after a decade’s rule of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the century old Indian National Congress (INC). Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has come to power after ten years’ of struggle under the leadership of Narendra Modi, former chief minister of Gujarat. Although the BJP has got absolute majority in the polls, it has kept its flock together giving all the pre-poll alliance members their due share in the administration. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has assured the countrymen of fair deal in the interest of all sections of the...

Cong needs dynamic leadership

Problem-torn state of Assam for several years is now passing through a critical situation on which the Congress Party-led state government seems to have turned deaf ears and eyes-shut, despite hectic efforts of local people, NGOs and media covering the news from each and every corner of the state. The party in power for last thirteen years is divided among several factions contesting to gain maximum benefit out of the prevailing situation. The entire state is running under serious violence related to burning houses of inmates, murder, theft, communal hatred, abduction, indecent behavior against womenfolk and aged persons, but the administration is standstill. Criminals are active and have...

Reangs back home

Ignoring their leaders directive Reang refugees from various Tripura camps are moving to their homeland in Mizoram in disguise. For about fifteen years of hardship in various refugee camps of Tripura, the evacuated people from their homes seem to have lost confidence in their leaders, who did not agree to return to their homeland despite several proposals for their safe return to their state. A recent media report says that so far 631 people belonging to 124 families have returned to their homes under disguise. However, according to Tripura government sources only 178 members of 27 families have gone so far. Thousands of Reangs were driven out of their homes due to conflicts with Mizo...

Ambition fulfilled, Gogoi gets reward

Failures of Congress Party in the state of Assam during recently concluded Lok Sabha polls has shattered the dreams of state chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who had promised before the Congress high command to win more than half of the total seats for his party. The state has 14 parliamentary seats, out of which Congress could get 3 (three) seats only. The ‘courageous’ chief minister did not lose heart even at this defeat. The defeat led the Congress party in turmoil and some legislators of the party revolted against the leader of the House and demanded change in the leadership. The chief minister refused to bow down on the demands of those who desired the appointment of a new leader to lead...

Democracy needs educated people

India claims to be the largest democratic country in the world. In a country where majority of people do not get proper education about their status other than to vote for a political party or an individual on the basis of their ‘vague assurances’ to look into their welfare being in power only does not carry any meaning. India’s constitution provided specific conditions to educate the people within shortest time after independence, so that they could be in position to think about right or wrong policies of the government and raise their voice against the ‘evil designs’ of their destiny makers. The constitution has been amended hundred times, but the people in general could not be benefitted...

Disability defeated by willpower

Will power has an important role in human life and those who have stamina to fight all odds, set an example for others to follow for a successful life. Even disability can be defeated if a person has determination to lead a peaceful life. We find a number of cases in the world when people lose heart on their failures in life. At the same time there are certain exceptions, who despite many odds in their life make it worth living by their strong will power. Here is an example of the life of a person who came out from a small village of Siyani Belchhi in the district of Jamui in Bihar. Born on January 2,1952, Rakesh Pathak became a handicap suffering from paralysis in his right leg at his...

India needs a National Government

The election process for the 16th Lok Sabha in India is going on full swing and by the middle of May 2014, the  complete picture of winning candidates would come out. The reign of the country for the next five years would go in the hands of mostly new faces. As there is a ‘good crop’ of leaders spreading throughout the 29 states and seven Union territories having a number of political parties spread throughout the country facing different administrative, natural and environmental problems, the election results are not likely to go for a single party rule. Speculations are on the air that post poll polarization of political forces may take place just after the final poll results are...