Our campus contributes minuscule portion of water: Meghalaya varsity on Himanta's 'flood jihad' jibe

Guwahati: A private university in Meghalaya, which was accused by the Assam chief minister of contributing to large-scale waterlogging in Guwahati, on Saturday said its campus accounts for a ‘minuscule portion’ of the water that flows to downstream areas such as Jorabat on the city’s outskirts.

It maintained that constructions were carried out within its campus with requisite permission from the Meghalaya government.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had on Friday accused University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) of engaging in a ‘flood jihad’ by demolishing hills on its campus to build new structures, which he claims has led to large-scale waterlogging in Guwahati.

USTM is located in the 9th Mile area in Meghalaya's Ri-Bhoi district on the outskirts of Guwahati.

During heavy rain in Guwahati since Monday, in several places near USTM, such as Jorabat, which is the entry point to the city on the eastern side, the accumulated water flooded streets up to the waist level.

The university, in a statement, said, “USTM is a NAAC ‘A’ accredited University... and is a recognised Green Campus, which is one of the priorities of NAAC being a body of the Ministry of Education..

It claimed that various initiatives for implementing green technologies and installations like water harvesting, groundwater recharging and solar power generation have been undertaken.

The statement said that the USTM campus area is a small part of the Baridua area till Jorabat and it undertakes afforestation drives enhancing green cover by planting trees in and around the campus.

The varsity has water harvesting plants and five big natural reservoirs, where rainwater is stored.

“USTM campus contributes maybe a minuscule portion of the total water that flows down the Kiling Road through the various drains to the G S Road on both sides of the road,” the statement said.

In reference to the CM’s statement that 90 per cent of USTM’s students and teachers are from Assam and if they stop going there, it will automatically stop destroying the hills, the varsity said, “Almost 6,000 students are studying and 1,500 faculty and employees are working at USTM from across the North East states with a considerable share from Assam, being the largest of N E states.”