Guwahati: “Reclaim Guwahati,” a citizens’ collective, has raised serious environmental and safety concerns regarding ongoing infrastructure projects in the rapidly urbanizing city.
The group, comprised of volunteers who have been cleaning Dighalipukhuri for the past six months, is particularly critical of the Noonmati–Dighalipukhuri flyover project, fearing for the city’s already fragile green cover.
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Actor Aghardeep Baruah said, “The proposed Noonmati–Dighalipukhuri flyover is seen as a significant threat to Guwahati’s dwindling green cover. The planned felling of mature trees in Ambari, which provide crucial shade and ecological benefits, has sparked public outcry.”
Urban planner Umi Boragohain highlighted a “lack of transparency in coordination between the public and government during the ongoing construction.” She added, “The construction work has a lot of flaws and it is also creating a lot of pollution, and small children are especially worst affected by this.”
Trans, environmental, and animal activist Milin Dutta said, “Responsibility lies with both the citizens and the press to raise their voice in order to protect Guwahati’s green cover. I urge media houses, including newspapers, television channels, and digital platforms, to come forward and join hands along with the public for a sustainable and safe development.”
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While acknowledging the Assam Tourism Development Corporation‘s (ATDC) announcement to deploy SABRE technology for water pollution treatment at Dighalipukhuri, Reclaim Guwahati dismisses it as a “short-term fix” that ignores the root causes of pollution, such as improper waste disposal, lack of public awareness, inter-agency coordination issues, and inadequate holistic waste management infrastructure.
The group expressed “justifiable fear” that the SABRE technology, deployed without public consultation or transparency (especially after the discontinuance of a previous project by The Energy and Resources Institute – TERI), could be “another expensive, short-lived initiative.”
The collective highlighted that this decision disregards the six months of dedicated maintenance by volunteers, who have collected over 1,100 kgs of waste through weekly clean-up drives and installed bamboo baskets and anti-littering signs.
They advocate for involving active residents in government initiatives to ensure long-term sustainability and foster a stewardship approach to public facilities.
Reclaim Guwahati also questioned the efficacy of the sudden announcement to translocate trees to the Textile Institute without public consultation, citing the low survival rate of translocated mature trees.
They urged PWD Roads to consider an alternative: terminating the flyover at the Guwahati Club Rotary and utilizing vacant railway land for on-off ramps, thereby preserving vital street trees and avoiding complex land acquisition.
Adding to environmental concerns are grave safety lapses at public infrastructure sites. The collective cited a recent electrocution incident near the under-construction GNB Road flyover as a prime example, highlighting unsafe proximity of high-tension wires, poor site management, and waterlogging, which are causing significant distress to nearby residents and commuters.
Basabi Dutta, a member of the collective, mentioned, “Last week, a worker was electrocuted at the construction site of the Noonmati-Chandmari flyover. The government must ensure the safety of all the workers.”
Reclaim Guwahati asserted that “development must be sustainable, safe, transparent, and ecologically responsible.”
The collective urged ATDC to convene a public meeting to share details of the SABRE technology deployment at Dighalipukhuri and facilitate community involvement in ongoing monitoring and maintenance.
They also appealed to Assam PWD (R) to organize a public meeting to discuss viable alternatives for protecting mature street trees before making a final decision, emphasizing the need for public advertisement and community feedback-informed decisions.
They urged all government agencies to work in a coordinated manner to ensure better site management and stricter contractor accountability.
The collective warned that “unless these grievances are addressed, it is likely that ad-hoc interventions will result in wasted public resources, continued environmental degradation, and increased risk to life and property.”
Reclaim Guwahati vowed to continue its advocacy for a more sustainable and livable city.