Guwahati: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is set to visit Assam on June 2 for discussions with his Assam counterpart, Himanta Biswa Sarma, concerning Guwahati’s recurring waterlogging and flood issues.
The proposed meeting follows a notice from the Supreme Court, directing both the Assam and Meghalaya governments to jointly deliberate on the matter.
The meeting aims to address growing concerns that unregulated hill cutting near Jorabat, on the Assam-Meghalaya border, is worsening Guwahati’s drainage and flooding problems, a view shared by both experts and local residents.
Authorities have long flagged unchecked hill cutting in the Meghalaya region bordering Assam as one of the contributing factors to waterlogging in several areas of Guwahati.
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) — a body constituted by the Supreme Court to oversee environmental compliance — flagged concern over ongoing land degradation in Meghalaya.
The apex court has directed both state governments to meet, assess the impact, and propose a coordinated plan of action for submission to the Court, which is actively monitoring Guwahati’s recurring urban flood disasters.
However, addressing the media on Friday, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma downplayed hill cutting as the immediate cause of the current deluge.
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He admitted that long-term water logging in Guwahati is “partly due” to land-use issues on the Meghalaya side, but he stressed that the flood situation since May 29 was “nature’s fury” in full swing.
He said. “What we’re seeing now is the impact of a massive weather system — a depression formed over Bangladesh that has triggered days of continuous rainfall.”
