Ready for floods

With the monsoon appearing to be setting in, it is imperative that the government gear up to meet the impending flood situation with all preparedness. Several rivers have risen in the past few days due to heavy rains across the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys, while embankments are said to be under threat in several districts of the flood-prone state. It is in this context that the Chief Minister on Saturday took a call on the situation, asking the district commissioners to be on a 24x7 alert, keeping at hand not just funds but also relief materials as well as equipment to rescue people caught in the flood. Assam has lots of crores of rupees in the form of vital infrastructure due to the floods, which includes embankments, roads, culverts, bridges, and various kinds of other government property, including school buildings. Year in and year out, the common people, on the other hand, have lost valuable standing crops, while floods have caused death to farm animals and damage to thousands of dwelling houses. This has happened because more than 40 percent, or 31.05 lakh hectares, of Assam’s land surface is susceptible to the severe hazards of floods. This is about 9.40 percent of the total flood-prone area of the country. Records show that the average annual area affected by floods is 9.31 lakh hectares. The flood prone area of the country as a whole stands at about 10.2 percent of the total area of the country, but the flood-prone area of Assam is 39.58 percent of the area of the state. It signifies that the flood-prone area of Assam is four times the national mark of the flood-prone area of the country. According to the official website of the Water Resources Department of the Government of Assam, The average annual loss due to flooding in Assam is to the tune of Rs. 200 crore, and particularly in 1998, the loss suffered was about Rs. 500 crore, and during the year 2004, it was about Rs. 771 crore.