Assam and Meghalaya are once again under water. But unlike past years, where erratic monsoons bore the blame, this year’s catastrophic floods have a far more human-made origin: a wave of reckless infrastructure development spearheaded by central highway authorities.
Experts and civil society groups are now pointing directly at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) for triggering ecological collapse across the hills and valleys of the Northeast.From Jorabat on the Assam-Meghalaya border to the once-thriving towns of Dalu and Silkigre in West Garo Hills, the flooding follows a chillingly clear pattern. Every major inundated area sits adjacent to ongoing or recently completed highway works — roads cut into hills without slope stabilisation, debris dumped into riverbeds, and construction carried out with no consideration for drainage or runoff patterns.
In Guwahati, urban highways have turned into streams. On the NH-17 corridor, which connects Tura to Guwahati, key stretches were washed away under relentless water flow. In each instance, local residents have flagged unchecked dumping of construction material by contractors into water bodies and riverbanks, a violation of every principle of sustainable engineering. These warning signs were ignored.The Shillong-Dawki road project in Meghalaya stands as a painful reminder of what happens when such negligence goes unaddressed. In 2023, two lives were lost in a landslide attributed to poor construction and lack of geological safeguards. Despite repeated red flags from engineers, local administrators, and even elected officials, NHIDCL has reportedly failed to adhere to basic safety protocols or initiate long-term environmental reviews.
In the Barak Valley region of Assam and across key parts of NH-6, similar tragedies are unfolding. Roads submerged, culverts overwhelmed, and livelihoods destroyed — not by rain alone, but by systemic disregard for the hydrological and ecological logic of the land.Meanwhile, political intervention has offered little comfort. The Supreme Court has nudged Assam and Meghalaya to coordinate flood management and examine transboundary water impacts. But local voices allege that high-level meetings have been diverted towards border realignment issues and politically sensitive matters linked to NRC and CAA implementation, leaving flood mitigation on the back burner.
Urban planners, geologists, and community leaders are now calling for urgent reform. Among their demands are a complete halt to all hill-cutting operations until independently assessed, strict penal action against defaulting contractors, and immediate judicial scrutiny of all ongoing projects for environmental violations. There’s also growing demand for compensation and restoration works in the worst-affected districts.More importantly, they insist on a shift in how infrastructure is planned. Roads and highways cannot continue to be built at the cost of ecological integrity and local safety. Development, they argue, must be people-centred, future-focused, and rooted in the climatic realities of the Himalayan foothills.
As rains continue to lash Assam and Meghalaya, it is no longer just about flood control. The question is whether state and central authorities can rise above bureaucratic inertia and political distraction to prevent further devastation. The clock is ticking — and nature, clearly, will not wait.
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