GUWAHATI: Assam Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya on Tuesday urged Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal not to politicise the flood problem in the state.
“I am not a BJP man now. But as an ex-BJP man, I will tell him (Sonowal) not to make floods a political issue. Please do not do this. The state government is my government,” Acharya said at a press conference.
The Governor was responding to queries on Sonowal’s allegation on Monday that the state government was not doing enough to handle the natural calamity. ”
If you have any problem regarding any issue, you can meet me or the CM. This is a problem we all should fight together,” Acharya said.
Sonowal had accused Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of doing “cheap politics” over the flood situation and said the state government has enough funds to tackle the problem. The Union Minister had also claimed that the state government was given Rs 1,655 crore as part of the SDRF fund during the beginning of this financial year, out of which an amount of Rs 1,425 crore was still unused.
However, the Governor said “I agree with the CM that we need more funds. The Centre should give more funds. I am going to Delhi tomorrow and will meet the President, Home Minister and most probably the Prime Minister. I will appeal to the Centre on this matter.”
“I will also request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay a visit to the flood-hit areas. At the same time, the atmosphere of blaming the Centre is also not good. We cannot accept blaming the Centre every time for the state’s failure,” he added.
Refuting Sonowal’s claim, Acharya said the SDRF has received only Rs 207 crore from the Centre along with Rs 23 crore from the state during the current financial year. ”
Annual allocation for the SDRF for 2015-16 is Rs 460 crore, of which the central share is Rs 414 crore and state’s share is Rs 46 crore. The second installment of this fund will be released later this fiscal,” he said.
Acharya said he would request the Centre to declare the perennial flood problem of the state as “National Calamity” if it helped Assam get more funds.
“Flood happens every year and we spend huge money. I will request the Centre to work out a longterm plan on how to minimise the impact. Prevention is better than cure,” he said.
The Governor said as per initial assessment, the authorities would require around Rs 625 crore for rescue, relief, repair and restoration works. “The assessment work is still going on. It will take another one month to complete. The exact extent of damage will be known only after that,” he said.
Last week Acharya had made an aerial inspection of six flood-affected districts of Assam. The Governor also appealed to the civil society, specially students and the business community, to come forward and help the people in need. Acharya further said he was thinking to launch a ‘Raj Bhawan Relief Fund’ and raise money for helping people affected in natural calamities like floods.
Meanwhile, even as a major portion of Assam is still affected by floods, water in three of the 20 deluge-hit districts receded giving relief to the people. Nearly 13 lakh people continued to be affected in 17 districts of the state.
The floods have affected normal life in Dhemaji, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Sonitpur, Barpeta, Morigaon, Cachar, Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Darrang, Kamrup, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Nagaon, Dhubri, Kamrup Metropolitan and Goalpara districts, an Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report said.
The overflowing waters have receded in Jorhat, Nalbari and Sivasagar districts even as the Brahmaputra in Jorhat, Goalpara and Dhubri districts, river Dhansiri in Golaghat district, Jia Bharali in Sonitpur district and the Kopili river in Nagaon district were flowing above the danger level.
At least 1,276 villages and 92.8 lakh hectares of farmland were still under water in the 17 districts forcing 93,000 people taking shelter in 241 relief camps, the report said. Infrastructure damages were reported with several roads damaged in Nagaon, Darrang, Kamrup, Goalpara, Sonitpur, Barpeta and Dibrugarh districts, besides a bridge in Darrang district, it added.
