Guwahati is projected to be a smart city by 2025; it is the urban hub of the Northeast and a rapidly growing city. Over a period of years, the city has expanded along the fringes of the urban periphery. Looking at the current trend of the city’s development, it seems like 21st century development in Guwahati is going to be fashioned by flyovers.
We have normalized celebrating the construction of a flyover as a great achievement. But does development only mean the construction of flyovers? And catering to the needs of urban dwellers specifically? What about the aspirations of the people who are marginalized and still lead a traditional lifestyle and reside in the villages near the urban wetlands?
Guwahati is characterized by three major wetlands, namely: Deepor beel, Silsako, and Borsola-Sorusola beel. These wetlands provide some major ecosystem services to the city. For instance, they act as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, groundwater, and flood waters. The trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over the floodplain. These wetlands play a key role in maintaining groundwater infiltration, as Guwahati is a city that is mostly dependent on groundwater reserves.
The booming population in the city creates immense pressure on the groundwater resources, and in recent times, the city has been facing an acute water scarcity. They have been supporting the sustenance of the Keot community, the traditional fishing community of the region, for many moons. These wetlands act as a site of recreation for the urban population and as a destination for migratory birds like the Siberian crane, which traverses around 17000 km to come here every year.
On a recent visit to the Deepor Beel for academic research, many hidden facets of the conditions of the villagers and the environmental situation came to light while interacting with the locals. If one has visited this area and the current circumstances have come to their knowledge, one question would definitely come to mind: ‘Is this the type of development we aspire to?” Projecting ourselves as a smart city at the cost of polluting the environment and exploiting the marginalised community for its sake?
The current establishment of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation Garbage Dump Site near the wetland poses a serious threat by contaminating the wetland and affecting the fish quality of the wetland. Talking to the local dwellers, they have expressed their concern and trajectory after the establishment of the garbage dump site and how it has severely affected the area and the fishing activities of the people.
The water is getting increasingly polluted due to the garbage site and the confluence of the Bhorolu with the beel, which, as we all know, is the source of carrying all the waste generated in the city. The immense pollution has led to the extinction of many local species of fish in the wetland and also led to the deterioration of the quality of the fish obtained from the beel.
The plight of the fishing community is at stake. The sudden restriction by the government threatens their entire livelihood. The question that arises is: if the government is planning to restrict fishing in the wetland, are they planning to provide any sort of alternatives to the people? If not, then how are these people going to earn a living for themselves and their families? As we know, the Deepor beel was convened as a Ramsar site in 2002.
So, it is a protected site, but the irony is that the government, without doing any proper environmental impact assessment and without consulting with any expert in this field, could not have established such a site there, barring the catastrophic negative effects of it. The local people have resided in that region for many generations, and they have a sense of place and belongingness attached to it.
The local communities have had a positive attachment to the wetland, as they have always shared a symbiotic relationship with it. The wetland provides them with a clean and scenic environment and supports their sustenance, and in return, they try to keep the wetland clean. But the recent activities have fostered this positive attitude towards an increasingly negative attitude as the place is changing.
It is really unfortunate that the government has never organised any meetings or public gathering events to get the opinion and recommendations of the local people before proceeding with any activity related to the wetland. It needs to be understood that nobody can understand a place better than those who have spent a significant portion of their lives in that area. The beel holds cultural significance for the people as they engage in religious activities like the Ganga arti and the annual boating event where all of the fishermen gather together and catch fish.
The local people are protesting and fighting a case against the government to save their wetland. They want their voices to be heard and the garbage dump site removed from the area. They want to engage in dialogue with the government. A resident says, This beel belongs to us; we will not stop fighting for it. The government cannot keep lending a deaf ear to us.
The government should stop interfering in the matters of the wetland and let them be in the hands of the community’. Another striking scenario about the wetland that came up through the dialogues was that the number of migratory birds visiting the wetland has dwindled significantly over the years. The people blame pollution as the main cause of it. An interesting outlook on this was given by an environmental stalwart who has been working very closely with the wetland.
According to him, the urbanisation in the peripheral regions around the wetland has been a cause of light pollution in the region. The reflected light from the lake causes deviation in the direction and identification of the destined place amongst the migratory birds. Hence, this has led to a reduction in birds visiting the area.
Now, as so many problems persist in that area, it is quite astounding that the media has failed to highlight the issues in this area and act as a voice for the people. The local administration has become dormant and unaccountable to the people for all its activities. It is the need of the hour that people be involved in community environmental stewardship programs. Rather than focusing on depriving them of their means of livelihood, the community can be involved in the protection and conservation of the wetland.
Rather than following a top-down approach for policy implementation in the region, a bottom-up approach should be considered because it is the people for whom policies are made, so their interests should be taken into consideration. The wetland provides avenues for eco-tourism, which can help provide employment opportunities to the local community as well. Lastly, a collective approach by all the stakeholders and the community will foster taking steps to protect and conserve these invaluable resources of our city.