GUWAHATI, May 23 ? A study conducted by the Soil Conservation Department recently, reveals that the degradation status of the city hills is ?almost directly related? to encroachments upon them. The study also reveals that the city?s 18 hills are covered by 75 villages, consisting of 26,985 households with a total population of 1,23,979. Ironically, this was the total population of the city in 1971, said the study.
The hills like Sunsali, Kalapahar, Khanapara, Nabagraha, Gandhibasti are subjected to ruthless devastation by the encroachers, while Basistha, Sonaighuli, Kamakhya etc, hills have retained the forest cover as there has been less biotic interference on them, said the report of the Soil Conservation Department?s team that conducted the study. To save the city hills from farther degradation, the team suggested a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach towards proper soil and water conservation with a large-scale afforestation programme. This will also help solve the city?s problem of flash floods during the rainy season.
It is worth mentioning here that human activities on the city hills have exposed them to landslide. Frequent incidents of landslide in the city hills and the loss of human lives and property connected with them, have been in the news since 1983. In two incidents of landslide on October 15 and 16, 1991, at Ganeshguri Kacharibasti area, 16 persons were killed. This is the highest death toll recorded so far in the city in connection with landslide.
On July 24, 1999, 13 persons were killed in an incident of landslide at the Kahilipara Colony. This was also a major incident involving human lives. The soil and water conservation and afforestation programme suggested by the team included recommendations for breaking the steep gradients with the help of mechanical measures such as brushwood wattling, silt retention dams, drop spillways, gully plugging, loose boulder check dams and construction of retaining walls at vulnerable points.
It also suggested the vegetative measures like grassland, shrubs and protective afforestation through block plantation, supported by closures, in the moderate slopes. Further, it said, coir netting, geo-textiles might be an alternative biological measure to check erosion for the hills highly exposed to earth cutting.
On the lower reaches, treatments like water harvesting ponds, silt pits, boulder dams, percolation tanks, diversion drains alongwith agro-forestry, home stead and boundary tree plantation etc are to be taken upon, the report said, adding, these steps will stabilise the hill slopes. The total cost for implementing the above measures was estimated at Rs 21 crore and for the mechanical methods of conservation the cost was estimated at Rs 15.37 crore. But, it maintained that the these scientific measures would produce nothing, unless the encroachments on the hills are not tackled immediately.
The report, which was prepared after studying the condition of the hills comprising a land area of 35,300 hectares, in Japarigog, Gitanagar, Navagraha, Sunsali, Khanapara, Koinadhara, Sonaighuli, Dhapolia, Basistha, Garalia, Gandhibasti, Kalapahar, Fatasil, Tetalia, Kamakhya and Jalukbari areas, also provided a picture of the human habitation on these hills. It said that there were 10,803 temporary, 7,510 semi-permanent and 8,801 permanent structures on these hills constructed by the 1,23,979 people of 26,985 families. Of these people 12,317 are service holders, 8,229 are businessmen and 6,689 are connected with other economic activities, while 35,369 of them are children. The density of population on these hills was found to be 77.86, said the report.