The locals in the vicinity of Ayurvedic College in Guwahati are facing challenges due to infrastructure issues and civic problems such as lack of proper garbage disposal. The residents have claimed that a swamp has been polluted as people of that area throw their garbage directly on the college field, which is a property of the Ayurvedic College.
"We lack basic facilities. The roads are not proper but the biggest problem has been of waste disposal," said a resident.
The area concerned is Nizarapur Main Road, Niribili Path and its connected lanes. The population of the area has increased in these subsequent years. As such, problems have risen with people throwing their waste in the open.
A concerned citizen of the area raised the waste disposal issue to the MOHUA app. The Swachhata-MOHUA is the official app of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India. The app enables a citizen to post a civic-related issue (eg, a garbage dump) which is then forwarded to the city corporation concerned and thereafter assigned to the sanitary inspector of the particular ward. The app has been built by IChangeMyCity – a division of Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation working to improve the quality of life in India’s cities and towns.
As per allegations made by the residents, a ticket was raised by the app initially. The category was marked as open. Next day it said ‘work in progress’ and after some time it stated ‘issue resolved’. However, the locals in the area have denied any work being done by the authorities. G Plus spoke to Diganta Borah, who said, "Nobody attended the concerns nor did any official contact us. I tried posting another picture with a different issue (sewage cleaning). The next day they rejected it stating unclear image."
G Plus Impact: How the interventions solved the issue
To take stock of the matter, G Plus approached the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) regarding the claims made by the app. G Plus spoke to Dipankar Deka, GMC official handling the MOHUA app. He clarified on the problem which happened with the residents of Ayurvedic College. "We have designated engineers and wards that see to the tickets." He further stated that the since the app is not under GMC's purview, certain technical errors are part of it. "We don't monitor the app and sometimes these issues happen."
Apart from the clarification, he also assured G Plus to look into the matter. The MOHUA app allows for the complainant to reopen a case and Deka asked to do the same for this case.
Within the next day, the issue was taken up by the GMC. It first sent a field official to inspect the area and discuss with the locals. Following this, a garbage truck and JCB were brought in to clear the swamp and the garbage.
Local resident Diganta Borah has also thanked G Plus for its intervention. "Would like to thank Guwahati Plus and GMC for immediate action regarding garbage dump in our area ward," posted Diganta Borah on Twitter.
Other problems that loom in the area
The locals in the area allege that there is a lack of coordination between the local MLA and the former area members. This has halted the development of the area as per the locals. The local MLA, Ramendra Narayan Kalita is from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the area members are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ward No. 1
Population of wards: 33,305
Households: 7,269
Local MLA: Ramendra Narayan Kalita (AGP)
G Plus spoke to an area member who alleged that the local MLA is not paying adequate concern. "He didn't give us the work and the roads here are not good," said an area member from the BJP. This tension has taken a political turn in the macro scheme of Assam politics with reports of a tussle between the ruling party and its ally AGP in its seat-sharing agreement ahead of the upcoming polls.
The Mahila Samiti highlighted on the road condition of the areas near Ayurvedic College areas and the issue of the roads which haven't been constructed or repaired for more than 20 years now. “There is no drainage system in the entire area due to which the people have diverted their drains into a vacant land of Ayurvedic College turning it into a swamp,” a committee member told G Plus.
The concerns of lack of coordination between the MLA and the area members can also be attributed to the absence of a GMC council. With no ward councillors owing to the withholding of the municipal elections, the onus to solve the local issues has been on the MLA. However, accessibility has been a major concern for the people to meet their MLA.
The former councillors of GMC concur with the concerns raised by the residents. G Plus spoke to ex-councillor of Ward 19, Ranjit Barman, who highlighted that “approachability” has been the biggest problem for the people. “The people are finding it difficult to meet the MLAs and MPs. Why would an MLA come to a locality?" As such, the people still approach the former ward councillors with their issues, revealed Ranjit Barman, who is now assisting unofficially in a Rs 38 lakh development project.
As per insiders of the GMC, the draft electoral rolls for the elections were established by the State Election Commission (SEC). Later, the NRC exercise proved to be a hindrance to hold the elections. Post-NRC there was in action for many months. Now, the office claims Covid-19 as a cause for further delay.