Govt institute razed to enhance Silsako Beel retention capacity
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Guwahati: In its efforts to expand the water retention capacity of Silsako beel, a protected wetland of the city, Assam govt on Tuesday demolished another govt institute.
Housing and urban affairs minister Jayanta Mallabaruah and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) chairman Narayan Deka arrived in the Chachal area to give the go-ahead for the demolition of Institute of Cooperative Management, which was inaugurated in 2007.
The institute was built on a five-bigha land.
The minister, while speaking to media said, "Earlier the Silsako area was under encroachment, which has been cleared. Families who were genuine residents have been compensated. Currently, few govt institutions that were allotted land here earlier, are being shifted."
He added that govt has already allocated a plot to the institute in the Sonapur area. "However for temporary use, a space has been provided in the Rehabari area, along with a compensatory amount of Rs 10 crore.
Similarly, we will also be carrying out the demolition of a hotel management institute later this month, followed shortly by the demolition of the All Assam Tennis Association court and the Ginger hotel, as part of the wetland expansion project," he added.
Mallabaruah said once the remaining establishments are relocated, the planned reservoir will cover nearly 800 bighas of land. "We are fast-tracking the process, the institutions will be moved first, and excavation will follow during the dry season," he added.
Emphasising the importance of this wetland in tackling the city's waterlogging problem, he expressed confidence that once the reservoir is restored, a significant volume of floodwater will be diverted here, mitigating the flooding issue.Last month, the government had demolished the government funded Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, which was also established in 2007.
According to the GMDA report, the wetland will be excavated to restore a water holding capacity of 3.5 million cubic meters. Silsako beel is a natural wetland, notified under the Guwahati Waterbodies (Preservation and Conservation) Act. According to the 2021, report large-scale encroachments had reduced the beel from 450 acres to 80 acres. A GMDA official said that the government over the years has succeeded in restoring 270 acres of the beel.
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