Chandrapur bandh cripples life in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: A 12-hour bandh in Chandrapur in the eastern suburbs of Guwahati, called in protest against the alleged move to shift Guwahati Municipal Corporation 's (GMC) garbage dumping site from Boragaon to Chandrapur, crippled normal life on Wednesday.


Police and paramilitary forces had to be deployed in the area as local residents came out in large numbers burning tyres on roads and shouting slogans against the GMC.

The bandh was successful as commercial establishments and educational institutions remained closed. Vehicles mostly remained off the road. The strike was called off after officials of the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration assured the people that GMC's dumping ground would not be shifted.

"People of Chandrapur were under the impression that the garbage dumping site of Boragaon would be shifted to Chandrapur. However, the truth is that we were searching land in Chandrapur to set up a solid waste management plant. In today's meeting with the locals, we have clarified it," Kamrup (Metropolitan) deputy commissioner, Biswajit Pegu told TOI.

GMC and Kamrup (Metropolitan) district administration's decision to shift the dumping site came in wake of a recent National Green Tribunal's (NGT) order on the waste site. The dumping ground is located very close to the Deepor Beel freshwater lake. All Assam Students' Union (Aasu), which spearheaded the protest in Chandrapur, is not ready to make the popular tourist destination a dumping ground. Aasu's central executive committee member Tutumani Kalita said, "Chanrapur is a low lying area. During monsoon, there is every possibility of the site getting inundated and polluted water entering houses of the residents."