Assam floods caught administration off guard, minister tells Assembly

The Assam government told the Assembly that unprecedented flooding in eastern districts caught the administration off guard as the region had not witnessed such a deluge in over 60 years. Relief and rescue operations are under way, while the Opposition demanded a wider discussion

Guwahati: The devastating floods in eastern parts of Assam caught the state administrative machinery off guard as those areas had not witnessed such a deluge in over 60 years, a minister told the Assembly on Wednesday.

Speaking in the House on behalf of the government during a brief discussion on the flood situation, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said the government was doing its best to ensure relief and rescue operations.

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“Following the cloudburst in Nagaland three days ago, waters gushed down from there and the places in Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat, which had never seen such floods, were inundated. It is not merely a natural flood, but is on the scale of a natural calamity,” the minister said in the Assembly.

The incessant rain over the last few days aggravated the flood situation in the state, he said.

The administration was caught off guard as the worst-affected areas in the eastern part of the state had not witnessed such a deluge in over six decades, he said.

“Three-four embankments of the Water Resource Department have been breached, but most other embankments in the worst-affected areas have been overtopped, with water flowing 3-4 metres above these structures.

“No one was ready for such a situation as these circumstances had not arisen in 60 years,” he added.

The minister said the state had witnessed similar devastation in Goalpara more than a decade ago following a cloudburst in neighbouring Meghalaya.

He asserted that the government was reaching out to all stranded people.

The chief minister is visiting the worst-hit areas, while guardian ministers of the affected districts, local MLAs and top officials are already on the ground to coordinate all efforts, Hazarika said.

“Many people are still missing, and we should not indulge in politics in such a situation,” the minister added.

At least 31 people have died in the deluge this year so far, while nearly 5.65 lakh people in 12 districts have been affected.

The Congress had sought to bring an adjournment motion to discuss the flood situation after Question Hour.

Leader of Opposition Wazed Ali Choudhury said he had written to Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass regarding the prevailing situation, where people were forced to take shelter atop trees and houses that were completely submerged by floodwaters.

Following the letter, the party wrote to Dass seeking permission to move the adjournment motion, the Congress leader added.

Dass, while disallowing the motion, said the flood situation was extremely worrying, but proceedings could not be adjourned as voting on supplementary demands was scheduled.

With the Parliamentary Affairs Minister requesting Dass to allow the Congress MLAs to raise their concerns briefly, the Speaker asked the Opposition legislators to put forth their issues.

Deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party Joy Prakash Das sought details of the relief operations being carried out by the government.

He said the Congress had asked for the suspension of the Assembly sitting for two days in view of the situation.

Das maintained that an Assembly committee should visit the affected areas to oversee the rescue and relief activities.

He demanded that the prime minister and Union ministers must visit the affected areas to get a first-hand understanding of the situation.

Another Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar said no one was against the government in this hour of crisis and stressed that a detailed discussion on the flood situation was necessary in the House.