Guwahati, Aug 21: The states of Assam and Meghalaya are to set up two joint committees to study the cause of flooding in Guwahati, announced Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Dispur on Wednesday.
He said that the Conrad Sangma government in Meghalaya is willing to form two expert committees to investigate the causes of flooding in Guwahati city, particularly focusing on the inflow of water from the Jorabat Hills area, where the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) is situated.
“Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has also proposed to set up two joint committees between the Meghalaya government and Assam government to discuss the issue of water coming from Jorabat. The chief minister of Meghalaya called me himself and said that there is waterlogging in Guwahati because of Jorabat. He is also worried so can the two governments form an expert committee together,” Sarma said.
“We have set up an expert committee comprising experts from the Netherlands to study how to divert the water of Meghalaya to Silsako Beel and Deepor Beel. Experts from IIT Roorkee and IIT Guwahati are also here. We will make a plan within three years,” he announced.
The Assam Chief Minister said that there was also an agreement to have two engineers from each side to conduct the survey.
Turning the ecological scenario of flooding into a political issue, Himanta Biswa Sarma once again targetted the USTM University in Meghalaya, blaming it for all the ills on the water front plaguing his state.
“Many political leaders in Assam started saving USTM, but the Meghalaya government has not started saving it,” said the assam chief minister lauding his Meghalaya counterpart for siding with his state government.
