Assam CM submits memorandum seeking more central assistance.
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Guwahati: In view of the large scale devastation due to unprecedented floods in Assam, the Centre on Wednesday announced to release Rs 674 crore for Assam’s State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2014-15.
After his visit to the flood affected areas in Lower Assam, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made this announcement during a meeting with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and senior state government officials at BSF camp at Patgaon on the outskirts of Guwahati.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh (R) with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi in Guwahati.
The Union Home Minister assured Central government’s maximum assistance to Assam for disaster relief and said asked the state government to utilise Rs 386 crore under SDRF while Rs 288 crore came from the Ministry of Finance for immediate disaster relief operation.
Singh also asked the state government to submit to the Centre a final assessment report of the extent of damages caused by this year’s flood. “After getting the report, we will send an inter-ministerial team here for further assessment of the damages,” he said.
Union Minister of State, Home, Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State (Independent), Sarbananda Sonowal, state forest minister and Rakibul Hussain among others were present on the occasion.
Earlier, while apprising the Union Home Minister about the damages caused by this year’s flood, particularly the latest deluge in Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro) and Goalpara districts, Gogoi pointed out that erosion posed a greater threat than flood in the State. “Flood causes a temporary setback but erosion causes permanent damage. Approximately 4 lakh hectare land has been gobbled up by the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers over last 50 years, with the rate of erosion being 8,000 per hectare annually,” he said, adding that the State Government has added thrust on reclamation of land to minimise the pressure on the existing land in the wake of increasing population.
File photos of flood devastation in Goalpara and Kamrup districts of Assam by Biju Boro.
Gogoi also requested Singh to consider Assam’s long-standing demand for treating erosion as a natural calamity. He sought Singh’s intervention in expediting the process for setting up of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority (BRVA) as a long-term mitigation measures on both Brahmaputra and Barak river basins.
The Chief Minister while lauding the efforts of SDRF and NDRF in rescuing marooned people in the recent flood, made a plea to the Union Home Minister for three additional battalions of NDRF for the North East, two of them exclusively for Assam. “There is a need for permanent stationing of NDRF personnel in the flood prone areas so that they can reach out to the people in shortest time,” he said.
Gogoi made a plea to Singh for a chapter of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) in the State. “If the setting up of a NIDM branch is not possible, then a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50 crore may be given for State Institute of Disaster Management,” he added.
File photos of flood devastation in Goalpara and Kamrup districts of Assam by Biju Boro.
In addition to the announcement by Singh, the state government in its memorandum to the Union Home Minister also sought Rs 2010 crore for damaged infrastructure, which include roads and bridges, dwelling houses, health centres and school buildings; Rs 660 crore for rescue and relief operations and Rs 6,700 crore as special assistance that include Rs 3,500 crore for raising and strengthening of embankments and Rs 1,000 crore for mitigating of flood problem in Guwahati city.
The State Government also sought some changes in the SDRF guidelines for raising the ex-gratia to the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in natural calamities from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh for persons up to 14 years and Rs 5 lakh to persons above 14; Rs 1.50 lakh to fully damaged pucca houses and Rs 10,000 to partially damaged pucca/kutcha houses.