Shillong, Jul 27: The Meghalaya government is examining allegations made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has blamed development activities on the Meghalaya side of the inter-state border for recurring flash floods in Guwahati.
Speaking to reporters after today’s cabinet meeting, minister Marcuise N Marak said the government is looking into the matter and that a detailed response would follow once the examination is complete.
“Every detail will come out once the examination is done,” Marak said.
Sarma alleged that unchecked construction and development in the hills around Jorabat on the Meghalaya side of the border were a major contributor to Guwahati’s worsening flood situation. The Assam CM had warned that the problem was becoming increasingly difficult to manage if corrective measures were not taken. In recent years he had also blamed earth cutting at the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) campus near Guwahati for floods in the Assam city.
The Assam CM had also claimed that the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati was under threat from water flowing down the Meghalaya hills during heavy rainfall.
Guwahati is situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, which often overflows its banks during the monsoon, and much construction in the city has been built on what was once low-lying wetlands and paddy fields. Passing the blame on to Meghalaya might be easier, politically, for Sarma, however.
