Gogoi lambasts BJP over flash floods in Guwahati

Guwahati: Former Assam chief minister and Congress veteran Tarun Gogoi has lambasted the BJP-led state government headed by Sarbananda Sonowal over its failure to take any concrete steps to mitigate the rain-induced flash flood problem in Guwahati city.

In the wake of death of at least four persons and damages caused to a large number of people because of flash flood and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in the city on Tuesday last, Gogoi demanded a statement from the Guwahati Development Department minister Himanta Bishwa Sarma on his blueprint to mitigate the problem of flash flood in Guwahati every monsoon.

Gogoi agreed that the flash flood problem in Guwahati city could not be solved in a very short time, but there should be a specific time-bound action plan in place to resolve it in the long run.

Meanwhile, Assam’s State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) is mulling a Guwahati-specific advance warning system to facilitate advance positioning of its rescue teams in vulnerable areas in the vent of heavy downpour.

The SDRF is going to knock on the door of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) with the proposal for mobilization of resources for the purpose.

The SDRF believes that an advance warning system would go a long way in cutting down the response time in mobilizing rescue teams to places where those are need most at a particular point of time during flash fllod and landslides that occur in Guwahati every monsoon.

A source in the SDRF said once it started raining heavily, it became difficult for the SDRF rescue vehicles and personnel to reach a particular spot of crisis as flash floods led to massive traffic jams on city roads.

The ASDMA has so far sanctioned 10 more fibre-reinforced plastic boats for the SDRF which would add teeth to the rescue operations during flood and emergency situations.