Assam flood toll rises to 36
GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Thursday sought Rs 1000 crore from the Centre for flood relief and rehabilitation operation even as death toll due to flood went upto 36 with recovery of more bodies from Goalpara district.
Gogoi requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Rs 1,000 crore as immediate relief to flood-hit Assam. The current wave of flood has affected over eight lakh people all over the state.
Union Minister of State for Home Khiren Rijiju is slated to visit flood affected areas of Goalpara and Kamrup districts on Friday in the company of Union Minister of State (Independent) for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sarbananda Sonowal to take stock of the situation.
Gogoi said the State would be able to make a correct assessment of the damages caused by the latest wave of floods that wrecked havoc mainly in Goalpara, Dhubri, Kamrup and Kamrup (Metro) districts only after the flood waters recede completely.
“The extent of damages would be known only after the flood waters recede. The State needs at least Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected people,” he said.
Gogoi also apprised Modi of the loss of lives, extensive damages to roads, bridges, and houses and cropped land by the recent wave of floods causing huge losses to the State. The Chief Minister also informed the Prime Minister about the slew of steps initiated by the State Government to rescue the marooned people and to provide relief to the affected.
On the other hand Rijiju dismissed allegation made by ruling Congress in Assam about ‘discriminatory attitude’ on part of the Centre in dealing with flood situation in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam and claimed that the Centre was extending all possible help to Assam government as well as Meghalaya government to deal with the flood situation. He said nobody should try to derive political mileage from the flood situation.
“I have personally taken care that help is extended to flood-hit Assam and Meghalaya. The flood situation in J-K was unusual as flood hardly occur in that State where the authorities were found unprepared to face such a disaster. But in Assam where flood occurs every year, the state government knows how to handle such a situation promptly,” Rijiju said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Gogoi announced that Assam government would look after and facilitate education for four children from flood-ravaged Boko area in Kamrup district who have been lost their parents in the flood fury.
PTI adds
Meanwhile, according to the flood report by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), around 3 lakh people were hit in Kamrup Rural district.
Essential food items and tarpaulin sheets were being provided to the relief camp inmates, the ASDMA release said.
However, people who took shelter on higher roads complained that the authorities have not provided them with food, drinking water or tarpaulin sheets.
Goalpara district was the worst-hit in the floods due to heavy rains in Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh since early this week, while torrential downpour and water running down from the adjacent Meghalaya hills caused heavy waterlogging in Guwahati.
Several embankments have been breached and many roads damaged across the state, the ASDMA added.
Meanwhile, Northeast Frontier Railway had cancelled eight trains yesterday and diverted seven others today due to the floods in Lower Assam and damaged track restoration work. The railway will also operate three special trains for transporting flood-affected people and helping in restoration work, an NF Railway spokesperson said in a statement.