The urban flood or major water logging in the urban areas across Assam has become a serious concern which can be termed as ‘man-made’ disasters.
Water logging in urban areas is the consequence of rapid increase in deforestation, excavation and decrease in wetlands etc.
Lack of solid waste management system, lack of proper infrastructure including channels and drains and massive migration from the village areas to the urban areas in search of livelihood over the few decades have been identified as some of the root problems of urban flood in the report ‘Flood Management – in Urban Assam’ of the first phase research by Action and Climate Today (ACT).
The report was published by Action and Climate Today (ACT) team in collaboration with Assam State Disaster Management Authority and Department of Environment and Forests during a programme in Guwahati on Friday.
The ACT team had done research on urban flood management in Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Silchar and Majuli in Assam.
The ACT suggested 33 recommendations to mitigate the problem including construction of reservoirs, flood protection wall, flood by-pass channels; improvement of design for irrigation and flood protective structures; strengthening/repair of existing roads and other critical infrastructure in flood plain; conducting sedimentation analysis in order to understand the river dynamics; upper catchment terrain management.
Abhay Kumar Johri, principal chief conservator of forests – Climate Change and Biodiversity and Member Secretary of Assam State Biodiversity Board emphasized the need to implement long term plan to solve the urban flood problem.
Pointing out towards low outflow capacity in the urban areas of Assam, Johri said, “Urban areas are creeping in the flood prone zones also. Wetlands are decreasing across the State due to which out water outflow has become a big problem.”
Johri also pointed out lack of proper town planning in Assam for which many areas becomes inundated within a half an hour shower.
Detailing a presentation on the report, Shashikant Chopde, technical expert of ACT pointed out the ‘poor’ solid waste management in the covered urban areas in Assam till date as another root cause of urban flood.