GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday made an aerial survey of various flood-affected areas in the state after reaching Guwahati on Thursday evening from an official trip to Japan, even as the flood situation improved gradually.
The Chief Minister directed the district authorities to leave no stone unturned in providing all possible help to the flood-affected people and asked the ministers to closely monitor the situation to ensure that each and every affected person got relief material.
“We have to reach out to the flood-affected people and provide succour to them in their hour of need,” Mr Gogoi said.
He directed the district authorities to ensure supply of tarpaulin, bleaching powder, phenyl and other relief material to the affected and to ensure safe drinking water by installing tube wells.
The Chief Minister also directed the administration to keep sufficient number of country boats ready for rescue and relief operations.
The chief minister also undertook a one-and-half-hour long aerial survey of flood hit Morigaon, Darrang, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts, besides the worst-affected Kaziranga National Park and the riverine island Majuli.
In Morigaon, the Chief Minister, accompanied by Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Nazrul Islam and Minister for Fisheries Basanta Das, interacted with the inmates of Manaha Santipur relief camp and Jhargaon relief camp.
Mr Gogoi will be reviewing the flood situation with Minister for Water Resources Rajib Lochan Pegu and district administration of Jorhat on Friday evening.
He will undertake an aerial survey of flood hit areas of Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts and hold review meetings with the district administrations of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the flood situation showed signs of improvement with the water receding in most parts.
Over 2,500 villages had been affected in 20 districts of the state in this wave of floods.
Nearly 30 lakh people have been affected in this wave of floods, with 19 deaths reported and 10 others missing.
Water level of most of the rivers was on a steady or receding trend, though the Brahmaputra and some of its tributaries were still flowing over the danger mark in different parts of the state. (UNI with inputs from PTI)