GUWAHATI
HISTORY
INTRODUCTION Guwahati is the capital city of Assam and the largest city in the North East region Situated at 26°10 north latitude and 92°49 east longitude, on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. It is the largest commercial, industrial and educational centre of the N-E region. The city is located towards the South-eastern side of Kamrup district, surrounded by Nalbari district in the North, Darrang and Marigaon districts in the East, Meghalaya State in the south and Goalpara and Barpeta districts in the West. The city is situated on an undulating plain with varying altitudes of 49.5 m to 55.5 m above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The Southern and Eastern sides of the city are surrounded by hillocks. Apart from the hilly tracts, swamps, marshes, water bodies like DeeporBeel, Silpukhuri, D i g h a l i P u k h u r i , BorsolaBeel and SilsakooBeel etc. also cover the city (City Development Plan, JNNURM)1. The total population of Guwahati UA/Metropolitan region is 968, 549. As per the data released by Govt. of India for Census 2011, Guwahati is an Urban Agglomeration coming under the category of Class I UAs/ Towns. The city is governed by Municipal Corporation and is situated in Guwahati Urban Region.
Localities City Corridors Govt. Structures Junctions Open Spaces Riverfront
POPULATION DENSITY PLAN -1971
POPULATION DENSITY PLAN -2011
HYPOTHESIS
ROAD NETWORKS
Area Metropolis 382 sq km (128 sq mi) Elevation
50-680 m (164-2231 ft)
Population Metropolis 9,57,352Rank 48th Density
Urban Design -1
(7,500/sq mi)Metro
2,900/sq km 9,62,334
Guwahati, one of the ancient cities of India, was known as Pragjyotishpur in the days of the epics and the kingdom was known as Kamrupa in the Puranas and the Tantras (Gait, 1981). The boundary of Guwahati, during eighteenth century extended from the Bharalu in the west to the Latashil Chowky in the east, Chalabeel in the south to the Brahmaputra on the north, covering an area of six km in length and four km in breadth (Tamuly, 1992). With the coming of the British, Guwahati began to grow as a modern town. The town was connected by railway line with rest of India in 1890. During the 1850’s the town had 7,000 persons, which rose to 11,492 in 1871. In 1874, the town had eight municipal wards.
BUILT INFRASTRUCTURE IN DIFFERNT ZONES
In order to achieve the above objectives, following hypotheses were tested in the study area. 1) The mighty river Brahmaputra and three rivulets become ineffective due to topographic constraints in Greater Guwahati during flood season every year. 2) Water level of Brahmaputra, equals or exceeds to the danger level almost every year. At times all three rivulets, Bondajan, Bharalu and Khanajan receive water from their catchment area and inundate lowlying areas of most part of the city. 3) Rainfall intensity is higher during monsoon period and causes water logging in some parts of the city. 4) Population pressure over limited space and encroachment upon the land haphazardly became serious problem for proper planning. 5) Environmental degradation by hill cutting,earthfilling,deforestation together with water pollution and air pollution etc., turned Guwahati into ecological imbalanced region. 6) There is a grading of influence from Guwahati city to the surroundings, i.e. Guwhati’s influence decreases
UD-1
as the distance from the city increases
Kriti Verma . Ridham Seth . Ritu Thakur. S.Sukhbir Singh Dayal