By IANS
Dhemaji (Assam) : United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi Tuesday struck a chord with hundreds of people in flood ravaged Assam during a whirlwind trip and promised urgent help and support from New Delhi to ease their woes.
“In our moment of helplessness, it was indeed heartening to see a leader of Sonia Gandhi’s stature visiting us and giving a patient hearing to our problems,” Ram Mohan Payeng, a village elder, told IANS.
Gandhi, accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and a retinue of officials landed at Dhemaji, the worst hit by floods, and spent close to 40 minutes interacting with the victims. Dhemaji is 500 km east of Assam’s main city Guwahati.
“We told Gandhi about our miseries and requested her to ensure that we are provided food and other relief materials for some more time as we don’t have anything left to survive,” said Ronita Pegu, a mother of two.
Gandhi instructed local officials to take note of their problems and continue providing relief and other supplies.
“Nobody complained about anything. They simply wanted Sonia Gandhi to make sure they were provided with food for a longer period even after they returned to their homes,” Dhemaji district magistrate Diwakar Mishra said.
Bansidhar Das, an elderly farmer, narrated tales of woes caused to the villagers by the flood as an emotional Gandhi looked on.
“I told them (Gandhi and Patil) that we need government assistance to rebuild our homes as the floods washed away everything. We hope Gandhi would do something for us. All our hopes rests on her shoulders,” Das said in a tone laced with optimism.
Gandhi left for another round of aerial survey to parts of western and northern Assam. The two leaders will hold a meeting with the chief minister and some of his cabinet colleagues at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati before leaving for Bihar in the afternoon.
“We are submitting a memorandum to Gandhi detailing the extent of damage caused by the floods and seeking urgent attention from the central government,” said Bhumidhar Barman, the Assam revenue, relief and rehabilitation minister.
A government statement Tuesday said 24 people were drowned in separate incidents and 6.7 million were displaced in the floods in 26 of Assam’s 27 districts.
“A total of 5,862 villages covering a land area of 870,000 hectares were affected in the floods. An estimated 355,000 hectares of crop land got damaged,” the minister said.
The Assam government has so far spent about Rs.200 million towards providing relief to the affected people who have been stranded for more than a fortnight in makeshift shelters after their villages were inundated by the Brahmaputra.
“The situation is fast coming back to normal with thousands of people returning to their homes with floodwaters receding,” the chief minister told IANS.
However, thousands continue to stay in temporary shelters on raised platforms or in government schools and offices, their homes filled with mud and slush.
“The priority now is to ensure that that there is no outbreak of any waterborne diseases,” Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
“Medical teams have fanned out in the area to see that people do not suffer. There are no reports of any epidemic or outbreak of waterborne diseases so far,” he added.