False Hope On Silchar Smart City by Sonwal, 5 Years Without Civic Polls: Sushmita Dev in Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha MP from the All India Trinamool Congress, Sushmita Dev, on Monday (February 9) raised concerns in the Parliament over the absence of municipal elections in Silchar for the past five years and questioned how towns without elected civic bodies are expected to develop. Addressing the Chair, C.P. Radhakrishnan, she asked the Union government what policies are in place to support cities like Silchar that lack local governance structures.

During her address in the Upper House, Dev brought up several issues affecting Assam, including the Smart City Mission. She asked whether towns such as Dibrugarh and Silchar would get opportunities for infrastructure development similar to the projects earlier implemented in Guwahati under the scheme.

On this matter, she pointed out that Silchar Municipality has not held elections for five years. She said that without an elected body, the town cannot effectively plan or compete with other cities for development funds and projects. She sought clarity from the government on what measures are being taken for tier two and tier three towns facing such administrative gaps.

Referring to the Smart City Mission, Dev noted that the scheme has now been closed and called it a false promise by the then CM Sarbananda Sonwal. She said Rs 755 crore was spent on Guwahati under the project, yet even two hours of rainfall turns the so-called smart city into what she described as a sinking city due to waterlogging. Citing official data, she claimed that around 40 per cent of the total allocation, amounting to over Rs 38,000 crore, remains unspent as of March 2026.

She also highlighted Assam’s demographic importance, stating that nearly 65 per cent of the North East’s population lives in the state. Given this, she argued that more attention and investment are needed in towns beyond Guwahati to ensure balanced development across the region.

Dev further raised the issue of flash floods in Guwahati, mentioning the death of a boy named Avinash in 2025. She asked whether the state government has any concrete proposals to address the recurring menace of urban flooding and improve infrastructure resilience.

Silchar, too, continues to face similar problems of flash floods and severe waterlogging after heavy rainfall, exposing gaps in basic urban infrastructure. For residents, even short spells of rain often disrupt daily life, damage property and affect movement across the town. Addressing such grassroots civic issues and strengthening drainage, roads and essential services remain among the most urgent priorities for development. In this context, Dev’s intervention also underlined the need for the Union government to look beyond Guwahati and focus on towns like Silchar that require sustained infrastructure support.