Guwahati, July 8: Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha), Rahul Gandhi on Monday underlined the need for a pan-Northeast water management authority to mitigate/control floods in the region.
“Assam needs a comprehensive and compassionate vision – proper relief, rehabilitation and compensation in the short term, and a pan-Northeast water management authority to do everything necessary to control floods in the long term,” Gandhi who visited flood-hit Assam and ethnic violence-affected Manipur on Monday.
“I stand with the people of Assam, I am their soldier in Parliament, and I urge the central government to extend all possible help and support to the state expeditiously. The extreme devastation caused by flooding in Assam is heartbreaking – with innocent children like eight-year-old Avinash being taken away from us. My heartfelt condolences to all the bereaved families across the state,” he took to his microblogging platform, X, to express himself.
According to reports, the Congress leader interacted with inmates of flood relief camps in Cachar district of Assam and thereafter left for Manipur to visit relief camps in Jiribam and Churachandpur.
Meanwhile, Assam Congress leaders submitted a memorandum to Gandhi on Monday apprising him of the situation across the flood-hit state.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Kumar Borah requested Gandhi to take up the flood problem in the state as a special case and help get adequate relief and compensation from the central government for the severe losses incurred owing to the deluge which has taken over 60 lives in the state so far.
“We would be grateful to you for carrying our voice of agony to the Centre. Assam should get a package to tackle the grim situation, as the state government has failed to get adequate funds from the central government, a double failure of the double engine government,” Borah stated in the memorandum.
“The long-term solution is a pan-Northeast water management authority, suitably empowered by Parliament to do everything necessary to control floods. The short-term solution is strengthening the current flood management infrastructure like embankments, and providing immediate relief and rehabilitation to those affected,” the Assam PCC chief stated in the memorandum.
“Meanwhile, APCC leaders, MPs, MLAs, frontal heads, DCCs and BCCs are touring the flood affected areas and helping people,” Borah stated.
Expressing dismay at the rising flood-related death toll (60-plus deaths); over 53,000 displaced people and 24,00,000 affected people, Gandhi said, “These numbers reflect the gross and grave mismanagement by BJP’s double-engine government which came to power with the promise of a “flood-free Assam.”