STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction special Central assistance for flood-ravaged Assam and also to initiate steps to declare flood and erosion of the State as a national calamity.
In a letter to the Prime Minister dated today, Saikia mentioned that despite the promise made by the BJP in the initial years of its Government, this long-standing problem of Assam has not been addressed adequately by either the Central or the State Government. The Vision Document of BJP for Assam also mentioned various schemes to mitigate this long-standing problem of the State, but "unfortunately, none of them are being implemented satisfactorily", he stated.
The letter further mentioned that even last year the Union Home Minister had promised to address this issue more seriously if the BJP was voted back to power in the Assembly elections of 2021.
Saikia mentioned in the letter that several rounds of discussions were held to change the definition and to include the flood problem of Assam in the list of national calamities at the NDRF Planning Committee meetings and the Planning Commission meetings, but no concrete result has emerged.
"As in 2012 itself the Bharatiya Janata Party suggested the declaration of Assam's flood as a national disaster, I request that this may be done now as already more than 70 people have lost their lives since May, 2022. An estimated loss of 1,07,370 hectare of cropland and more than 42 lakh people still remain affected.''
Saikia requested the Prime Minister to sanction a special relief package of Rs 20,000 crore to alleviate the damages caused in the last three-four years by flood and erosion in Assam.
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