Floods, Landslides, Death, Displacement- read any newspaper, you find these unsettling familiar stories year after year. Monsoon disaster news is a recurring chapter in Northeast India’s annual calendar of disaster. Just as the region has long been celebrated as India’s unique natural beauty, landscape and greenery, it has also become inseparably associated with climate catastrophe.
For those of us who grew up in Northeast India, it is deeply personal as the gravity of climate disaster seems to get worse every year. The arrival of monsoon once signified renewal- a chance to dance barefoot on the road, the smell of fresh earth, greening of hills, rivers flowing between the hills and more.
Today, it increasingly evokes anxiety. Every year seems to bring more intense rainfall, devastating floods, more landslides, more lives lost and more families displaced, yet the most troubling question is not why these disasters occur, but why they continue to produce the same tragic outcomes year after year.
Governments proudly declare ‘Smart Cities’ across the region, but what does a smart city mean if it cannot keep its citizens safe when the rains arrive? Roads collapse, drainage systems fail, river overflow, landslides wash away homes- the cycle repeats with rescue operations, relief camps, compensation announced and then SILENCE- until the next monsoon.
Just 2 months back, in April, Guwahati once again was reeling under a severe flash flood which left people stranded, caused fatalities, disrupted daily life and even led to closure of all educational institutions within the Guwahati Municipal Corporation area for a day.
These instances are not new in Guwahati. Residents have been subjected to such harrowing experiences year after year but without a solution in sight. Situated at the foothills where Assam’s plains meet the hills of Meghalaya, Guwahati is naturally prone to heavy water runoff, a geographical reality that makes the city inherently vulnerable even before human factors enter the equation.
Added to that, unplanned urban expansion, rapid population growth, the razing of hills, gradual disappearance of green cover, high volumes of improperly disposed plastic waste choking tributaries, and the degradation of wetlands or beels are among some of the most visible causes of this recurring problem. The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) in their “Mission Flood-Free Guwahati” highlights measures that targets preservation of water bodies in and around Guwahati, minimise water logging in the city by constructing alternate water storm drains, using pumps to draw our water from inundated areas etc.
Yet, these measures remain piecemeal mitigation efforts, addressing symptoms rather than attacking root causes. More troublingly, these flood mitigation measures come in direct tension with infrastructural decisions that we simultaneously see happening. An instance can be that of Deepor Beel, one of the wetlands in Guwahati whose conservation was identified by the GMDA as central to flood prevention.
The Deepor Beel is also a Ramsar site, a designation that recognises wetlands of global ecological significance while also committing signatory nations to their protection and sustainable use. A wetland which holds significance not only in flood protection for Guwahati but also carries a globally recognised protected status is now at the receiving end of infrastructural decisions that have drawn sharp criticism from activists, NGOs and even the National Green Tribunal.
The ongoing construction of an elevated railway corridor for the New Bongaigoan-Goalpara town- Kamakhya track doubling project, ostensibly aimed at alleviating the recurring train-elephant collisions, has seen the felling of over hundred trees surrounding the beel and many more earmarked for the same fate.
These developments raise a serious contradiction at the heart of Guwahati’s flood governance and reveal a larger concern that goes beyond a single wetland or infrastructure project. For residents who face this problem year after year, the need of the hour is not piecemeal interventions but a holistic and ecologically informed approach that treats flood prevention as a long term urban priority rather than a seasonal response.
Let’s also understand that Guwahati is not an isolated case, the rest of the Northeast region faces its own challenges every monsoon season. Just a few days ago, Arunachal Pradesh witnessed flash floods and a devastating landslide that killed one person with four people missing, and a red alert has been issued.
Similar situation hits Mizoram, Nagaland and the other regions. If the region has to break free from this annual cycle of disaster, it must look towards a long-term, ecologically informed development model that places environmental resilience at the centre of planning. Otherwise, it will be the same headlines year after year.
Authors:
Dr Embassy Lawbei (emmylawbei@gmail.com) teaches at the Department of Liberal Arts, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. She is engaged in teaching and research on Media, Communication and cConflict, and Human Rights.
Dr Namrata Borkotoky teaches at the Department of Liberal Arts, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Her research interests lie at the intersections of environment, gender, history, and with a keen interest on the Northeastern region of India. She can be reached at namrata.borkotoky@gmail.com or namrata.borkotoky@christuniversity.in
Views expressed are that of the authors and do not reflect EastMojo’s stance on this or any other issue.
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