GUWAHATI : To preserve the sanctity of the water bodies in the city, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked Guwahati Municipal Corporation to map all the water bodies, preserve and beautify them to balance the ecological quotient of Guwahati. Attending a meeting to review the social waste management of GMC at its conference hall here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Sonowal said that in a move to give solid waste management a larger ambit, the water bodies of the city have to be preserved. Concerted steps should be taken to map them and beautify them amid burgeoning urbanization to balance the ecological quotient of the city. Sonowal also stressed on the need of GMC working on enforcing the provisions of GMC Act assiduously and work as a helping hand to law enforcing agencies to bring to justice the violators of its laws. On the artificial flood that engulfs Guwahati, Sonowal said that though the artificial floods have eased phenomenally owing to the appropriate actions by the government, GMC has to remain ever vigilant to remove the causes that are potentially responsible for flush flood in the city. He also said that GMC must find out ways and means for creating new parking lots in the city areas and emphasized on developing Guwahati in global perspective. Sonowal also asked the GMC functionaries to chalk out an enduring and futuristic communication system in view of the ever-increasing number of vehicles and commuters in Guwahati. He also asked the GMC authorities to look for new and pragmatic avenues for increasing revenue generation to lend self-sustenance to GMC. On the supply of drinking water, Sonowal asked the GMC authority to start drinking water scheme by the end of the current year. He also took stock of the steps taken by the GMC towards solid waste management. He also asked the GMC authority to grant the building permission swiftly. Minister for Guwahati Development Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Chief Minister’s Media Adviser Hrishikesh Goswami, his Legal Adviser Santanu Bharali, Additional Chief Secretary Maninder Singh, Commissioner, GMC Debajit Hazarika and other senior officers were present during the meeting.
