Deepor beel in Guwahati.
India Water Portal
Every monsoon, Guwahati is reminded that wetlands are not empty lands waiting to be developed. They are living infrastructure that absorbs floodwaters, supports biodiversity, sustains livelihoods and helps the city breathe. Yet even as flooding intensifies and ecological pressures mount, many of the city’s wetlands continue to be viewed as real estate opportunities, tourism destinations or spaces for urban expansion.
The struggle over Deepor Beel, Assam’s only Ramsar wetland, reflects a larger contest unfolding across rapidly growing Indian cities. At stake is more than the future of a single water body. It is a question of how cities value nature itself. Are wetlands ecological commons that must be protected for collective wellbeing, or are they assets to be transformed in the name of development?
While saving wetlands is crucial, how do different actors in urban spaces perceive wetlands? The study titled “What Will Happen to the Commons? Contesting Discourses and the Future of the Wetlands in Urbanising Guwahati, India", by Sumit Vij, Jeroen Warner, and Hilde Nijland, published in Water Alternatives, talks to different stakeholders from municipal and other line agencies as well as residents living near the wetlands in Guwahati and finds that there are conflicting narratives between conservation, development, and community use of wetlands.
The state (municipal and other line agencies) perceives wetlands as a resource for driving urban development – a discourse that is being reinforced by the state’s practices. While this understanding is common among state agencies and some residents, it is also being challenged by environmentally conscious residents and civil society groups who advocate for wetland preservation.
Traditionally, wetlands were common-pool resources managed collectively, accessed through shared norms, and valued for their ecological and cultural functions. They provided water, fish, fodder, flood regulation, and even spiritual spaces for people. Collective management of wetlands was supported by local governance systems and community practices that valued the services they provided.
It was only after rapid urbanisation by the early 21st century that the idea of urban commons gained traction. But urban commons are very different from rural commons, as they are a part of a social fabric that is made up of diverse actors such as state-level representatives, local residents, civil society, private developers, etc. that interact with each other and influence their surroundings. Urban spaces face the risk of privatisation, commodification, and neoliberal policies, which present challenges for collective stewardship. Thus, urban commons form a distinct category, shaped by the intersection of infrastructure and land use with class, caste and community networks and cultural relationships related to identity, heritage and everyday practices.
The city of Guwahati has a rich network of wetlands, and while Deepor, Silsako, Borsola and the Bondajan Beel were declared protected water bodies by the Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation & Conservation) Act, they continue to experience severe degradation.
Deepor beel, is the largest among them and has managed to survive from degradation as compared to the other three and helps in water retention while sustaining rural livelihoods, including fishing, livestock grazing, supporting aquatic vegetation, small-scale agriculture, and providing a habitat for many migratory birds. Wild Asiatic elephants, an endangered species, regularly visit this wetland to bathe and feed on aquatic vegetation.
The Beel’s survival is, however, being challenged due to the dumping of large amounts of untreated waste that is carried from the city through the Pamohi canal by two municipal dump yards in its vicinity and due to the expansion of road networks and industrial facilities in and around it. The wetland is also facing encroachment due to state allocations of surrounding land for educational institutions, a large hotel, and various other businesses.
Guwahati’s waste often finds its way to the periphery of water bodies such as the Deepor beel.
The study attempts to explore how Guwahati’s wetlands are represented in public discourses by interviewing government officials (GO), non-governmental organisation representatives (NGO), media representatives (M), academics (AC) and local residents without positions of professional or institutional influence (LR).
As Guwahati undergoes swift urban expansion, the state actors look at the city’s wetlands as anchors for urban development, with a focus on keeping the city flood-free and generating revenue from tourism. This is reflected in the state’s plans to transform Guwahati into a 'sponge city' through interconnected wetlands, rivers and drainage systems that use engineered retention and drainage structures to control urban flooding.
State representatives show a strong interest in transforming Guwahati’s wetlands into recreational parks. The state’s current proposals include plans to develop Deepor Beel into an 'international class' wetland park. For this, plans are underway to undertake constructions to build new watch towers, souvenir shops, eco-lodges, cycling lanes and boating facilities under the Smart Cities Mission that aim at generating revenue for the state. State officials acknowledge the ecological and social costs of the Deepor Beel project but consider this development necessary for the city’s progress.
Construction of the railway line through the southern section of Deepor Beel has been undertaken, despite its status as an elephant corridor. While the railway line can be constructed through the northern part of the Beel, powerful institutions play a determining role in having the railway relocated along the northern route.
Common people and some citizens express concerns about corruption and mismanagement of wetland development funds and the lack of transparency and effectiveness of these investments. They argue that despite significant financial allocations, the beel shows no improvement.
As one respondent says, “When you can build a flyover where you have spent hundreds of crores of rupees, and you claim that you have finished the project before time, but you have been delaying the shifting of the dump yard for the past 18 years, which shows their priorities. "So even if they may come up with so many conservation plans for this project, the wetland we have on the ground shows the actual real picture” (Nijland, H. et al. What Will Happen to the Commons? Contesting Discourses and the Future of the Wetlands in Urbanising Guwahati, India. Water Alternatives, 19 (1), p 29)
However, the state continues to push forth its ideas on the development of the Deepor and other wetlands in the city.
Some of Guwahati’s residents are becoming increasingly detached from these natural ecosystems and the ecological services they provide. They look at wetlands as resources to be exploited for profit or converted into modern urban infrastructure. This is because many of the people who now live here do not traditionally belong to the place. Many families who lived around wetlands have sold their properties and moved elsewhere due to economic, ecological and/or social pressures. Degradation of water quality of the beel and reduction in agricultural and fishery yields also led many local residents to move to other areas in search of livelihoods, while others were forcibly evicted by the state.
The new people do not have any connection with the wetlands, nor do their livelihoods depend on them in the way that traditional wetland fishing communities such as the Kachari tribe did. People seem to accept the degradation and the associated loss of biodiversity around the beel as an inevitable consequence of the city’s development.
A small section of people from Guwahati are, however, challenging the prevalent developmental discourse and advocate preserving wetlands as urban commons. These include people from civil society as well as local communities that have traditionally relied on or still rely to some extent on the wetlands for their livelihoods.
With the steady increase in the flow of the city’s untreated sewage into Deepor Beel and with the seepage of effluent from the West Boragaon garbage dump and then from the Belortol, the water has become heavily polluted, depleting fish stocks and forcing many fishermen to seek alternative livelihoods.
Communities depend on the Deepor beel for their livelihoods.
Encroachment and pollution have destroyed the native vegetation of the beel that was used traditionally by communities to make medicines, animal fodder or biofertiliser, or handicrafts or ritual ornaments. Lotus flowers, for instance, were regularly collected from wetlands for sale in markets or for supply to local temples, and makhana (the popped seeds of the lotus flower) were often sourced from wetlands for consumption as snacks. These resources have become increasingly scarce over time, threatening the livelihoods of communities that depend on the collection and sale of these aquatic species. Cultivating vegetables and paddy for human consumption in the Deepor Beel area is now almost entirely unfeasible.
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has approved two elevated railway corridors in Deepor Beel and while construction had come to a halt in 2018 following objections by the National Green Tribunal, it is now expected to resume. Many citizens remain extremely concerned about noise pollution and the safety of native and migratory birds.
While the important place of wetlands in urban cities continues to be contested and the state’s modernity agenda seems to take precedence, resulting in their increasing commodification, alternative voices by common citizens provide a ray of hope.
Wetlands like Deepor Beel need to be governed as inclusive commons while balancing ecological integrity with community rights. Without this, Guwahati risks losing both its natural flood buffers and its cultural-ecological heritage.
Wetlands act as natural sponges, absorbing excess rainwater and reducing urban flooding. They filter pollutants, improving water quality for surrounding communities. They serve as blue-green corridors that can connect parks, water bodies and open spaces in urban areas. The article argues that:
Wetlands like Deepor Beel should be included in Guwahati’s master development plan as critical infrastructure for flood control, biodiversity, and climate resilience, rather than being treated as vacant land for expansion.
Local communities who depend on wetlands for fishing, grazing, and small-scale farming must be included in decision-making along with residents, scientists and officials to collectively govern and manage the wetland.
There is a need to establish a single coordinating body or platform to streamline protection and management of Deepor beel.
Weak implementation of environmental laws hinders attempts to save the wetland from further encroachment and exploitation. Strengthening enforcement of Ramsar status and existing environmental laws is thus important.
It is important to recognise wetlands as urban commons—not just ecological assets but social spaces. This will help balance conservation with livelihood rights while avoiding exclusion of marginalised groups.
Public awareness campaigns and citizen science initiatives to highlight the ecological and social value of wetlands can help common people become aware of the importance of saving wetlands and build broader support for conservation.