Guwahati will turn into 'an ocean' if hill-cutting in Meghalaya continues: Himanta

The Assam government has approached a Supreme Court committee regarding the cutting of hills in neighbouring Meghalaya, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced. He blamed the activity for recurring waterlogging in Guwahati.

Addressing a press conference at Dergaon in Golaghat district, he said if hill cutting continued in Meghalaya, Guwahati will become "an ocean".

"Be it Guwahati or other big cities, there is no way that artificial floods can be completely prevented. Every year, we fill up more empty plots of land and construct buildings," he said.

Blaming hill cutting in adjacent Meghalaya for waterlogging in Guwahati, he said, “Earlier, there was only USTM. Recently, I saw that two more buildings are being built by cutting hills in Meghalaya.” The chief minister had last year held the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), responsible for “flood jihad” against Guwahati, claiming that the water flowing down from its campus, located on a hill adjacent to the city, leads to massive flooding.

Sarma said that an application had been submitted by the state government before an empowered committee of the Supreme Court, urging them to inspect the hills.

“In two-three months, we expect a positive result. We have submitted before the empowered committee that if Meghalaya continues cutting hills like this, the entire Guwahati will become an ocean,” he added.

The city had witnessed massive waterlogging on Tuesday after a spell of heavy rains the night before, with several localities remaining inundated even after 24 hours.

People were seen wading through knee-deep waters in some areas, while the water level reached the chest in some areas.

The Gauhati High Court last year criticised Sarma’s government, stating that it was “not serious” in solving the perennial waterlogging problem in the city.