ASSAM FLOOD HAVOC

Over One Crore People Wage Battle

Against Hunger and Disease

Isfaqur Rahman

THE fierce and ferocious flood flood-fury in Assam completed full one month of its devastation. The raging floods and ravaging erosions are unprecedented. The harrowing experiences of the people are unspeakable and unimaginable. More than one crore people are undergoing immense sufferings. The total population of the state, according to 2001 census, stands at 2.66 crore.

Even after almost a month since the state was hit by the second wave of floods this year, the situation remained still grim. The flood related death toll has shot up to 136 with reports of more fatalities still pouring in. But this is just official count and the actual death toll would be much higher.

The mighty and turbulent Brahmaputra and its tributaries – Buridihing, Dhansiri-South, Subansiri, Kopilli and Sonkosh are still flowing above the danger level (DL) at several places. The Barak, the Katakhal and the Kushiyara are also flowing above the DL in Barak valley districts.

According to the official flood bulletin, as on July 25, 1,17,47,213 people in 10,067 villages have been affected. The current wave of floods has hit all the 27 districts in the state. The worst affected districts are – Kamrup, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang and Bongaigaon in lower Assam; Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh and Jorhat in upper Assam and Nagaon, Morigaon, Darrang and Sonitpur in middle Assam. The three Barak valley districts in south Assam – Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi are also worst hit. As per official bulletin, 22.43 lakh hectares of land has been submerged and 7,75,034 hectares of cropland has been damaged. Almost 50 per cent of the state’s livestock population has been affected. About two lakh houses have been fully damaged while the gushing waters left about 4 lakh houses partially damaged. Properties worth crores of rupees have been damaged. While the Assam government roughly estimated that loss to public property and infrastructure would amount to at least Rs 5,000 crore, it has become almost impossible to keep track of losses suffered by the people.

The surface communications have been seriously disrupted. The state PWD roads and national highways have suffered heavy damages and the rail-link also snapped at many places. The floods have also washed away several bridges and culverts and the network of embankments have also been destroyed. In fact, the devastating floods completely smashed the road network. More than 3,600 km of road, including the national highways, was damaged in the current wave of floods. About 95 km of the highways are still under water. So far, 614 km of national highways, 132 km of state highways, 450 km of major district roads and more than 2,423 km of rural roads have been damaged. The figure is likely to go up with most parts of the state still reeling under floodwaters. The flood caused as many as 196 breaches on the road network. Two RCC bridges, 438 timber bridges and 230 culverts were damaged, while two RCC bridges, 34 timber bridges and two culverts were completely washed away.

More than 20 lakh people are taking shelter in the 1,557 relief camps set up by the district administrations, while another 20 lakh are sleeping either in the open or in makeshift polythene and tarpaulin tents on the national highways and even on river embankments. Thousands are still perched on rooftops and highlands waiting to be rescued. Air Force and Army helicopters dropped food packets in several places across the state.

WAGING A GRIM BATTLE

Around 1.2 crore affected people continue to wage a grim battle against hunger and water-borne diseases. Relief and rescue operations are dull, dismal and distressing. Against the increasing demands for providing shelter to lakhs of people rendered homeless, the little number of government relief camps are packed beyond capacity and are unable to accommodate any more. The relief materials are scarce. The government relief provided to the people is far from adequate. Tens of thousands of marooned people are still languishing in inaccessible areas without food, medicines, safe drinking water, baby foods, fodder etc, even as the threat of epidemic looms large over the affected areas.

Hence, a comprehensive scheme for relief and rehabilitation, reconstruction, boosting up of agriculture, employment generation etc has become the crying need of the hour to face the emerging challenges.

GOVT.’S FAILURE

The state government has failed to tackle the flood situation head-on. The relief provided to the affected people has been awfully inadequate. Most of the affected are still deprived of food, medicines, baby food, safe drinking water, fodder, and kerosene etc. The inmates in most of the relief camps have got nominal rations, and that too barely for a couple of days during their 15-20 day spell.

The rescue operation and disaster management, too, are distressing and despicably ill equipped. The government has failed to prepare for the situation, advanced signals notwithstanding. It also failed in augmenting resources to face the disaster. Scarcity of mechanised and rubber boats, helicopters etc and also lack of trained personnel in disaster management have seriously hampered rescue operations.           

Lack of preparedness and ill equipped disaster management in a state like Assam, where devastating floods have been tormenting the state year after year with unfailing regularly, amply manifest the criminal callousness of the government. Now, 30 columns of army personnel are engaged in rescue work in the flood hit and inaccessible areas. The Army pressed into service 100 Boat Assault Universal Type (BAUTs) and 86 Out Boat Model (OBMs) in relief and rescue operations.

Being crippled by fund crunch, the state government has so far sanctioned only Rs 50 crore for rescue and relief operations. It sent a memorandum to the prime minister seeking an emergency grant of Rs 1200 crore from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) to deal with the situation. So far the centre has released an amount of Rs 181 crore under different heads to deal with the situation.

The state government and the ruling Congress(I) have also come under scathing attack and criticism over discrimination in distribution of relief materials and corruption at various levels. The issue has also figured in the ongoing budget session of the Assam assembly.

Members of the state assembly stressed the need for mounting pressure on the central government for recognising flood in Assam as a national calamity and for taking immediate steps to ensure permanent solution to the problem.

The union minister for water resources Priya Ranjan Das Munshi who visited Assam on July 15 acknowledged that the situation was serious and required urgent attention. After undertaking an aerial survey of the affected districts, Das Munshi said the central government would consider the proposal to declare floods as a national calamity.

During prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to the state on July 20, various political parties, including the CPI(M), CPI, AGP, BJP and ruling Cong(I) submitted memorandum to the prime minister and urged upon him for liberal financial assistance to the state. The chief minister Tarun Gogoi sought Rs 2,156 crore for relief and rehabilitation though he later said that the final requirement could well be Rs 3,000 crore. All the political parties demanded that the problems of perennial floods in Assam be treated as a national calamity.

The prime minister came to the state for stock-taking mission on the devastation caused by floods. The CPI(M) delegation led by state secretary Heman Das and central committee member Uddhab Berman met Dr Singh at Guwahati Airport and presented a memorandum (see report in last week’s issue). The Party delegation also urged upon the prime minister to restructure the Brahmaputra board and make it functional executive authority with a view to playing a meaningful role in tackling the problems of perennial floods in Assam. The CPI(M) wanted immediate scientific study for controlling the mighty Brahmaputra, the Barak and their tributaries and strengthening embankment networks. The prime minister has directed the Ministry Of Water Resources to set up a Task Force by July 31 to look into the problems of recurring floods in Assam and neighbouring states. The Task Force will recommend short-term and long term measures and sources of funding for tackling the problem.