According to latest reports, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has installed CCTV cameras to keep a close watch on people littering in the river channels, which become choked in the rainy season resulting in floods.
After being extremely annoyed and displeased with the irresponsible act of people littering the river and overflowing it with garbage this crucial step has been taken by the authorities to finally keep a check on people .
According to GMC commissioner Megha Nidhi Dahal , solar-powered CCTV cameras have been installed at 10 locations on the banks of the Bahini river channel, which starts from the Basistha side and flows through thickly inhabited localities of the city like Rukminigaon and Beltola before joining the Bharalu river near the Assam state zoo.
The GMC commissioner further said that , based on priority , the particular locations have been selected for the placement of the CCTVs. “Heavy encroachment and practice of throwing garbage in the Bahini have been detected in many locations. Repeated appeals have been made to the people but to no avail. The civic body de-silts the drains and the river channels every year. The practice of throwing garbage into the drains and river channels must be stopped to save the city,”.
With the help of those CCTV’s ,GMC will closely monitor the areas and will impose heavy penalties on those who gets noticed of violations.
According to further reports, around 1 lakh cubic metres of plastic waste and silt were removed by the civic body from the five river channels and 575 drains of the city between last year in December and March this year. This year too, the GMC has been carrying out de-silting of the drains and river channels on a war footing and it has set a target to clear 800 km of the drains before the monsoon arrives next year.
In order to serve this purpose, the GMC will spend around Rs 35 crore. Besides several illegal constructions along the banks of the Bahini has also been demolished by the GMC.
The civic body has also been joined by Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority, the Public Works Department and the water resource department to achieve the ‘Mission flood free Guwahati’.
