Assam: Floods damage over 4 lakh houses in past 5 financial years

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: It is a jarring statistic that floods damaged over four lakh houses and huts in Assam in the past five financial years, during which the state government received only Rs 294.37 crore in additional funds under the NDRF (National Disaster Response Fund) from the Central Government.

The reply from the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, to a query in the Rajya Sabha on July 31, 2024, spoke volumes about the devastating nature of floods in Assam. According to the Union minister, 880 people have lost their lives in disasters, mainly floods, in Assam since 2019.

According to government statistics, floods damaged as many as 4,06,553 houses and huts from 2019-20 to 2023-24 in the state. Floods struck the state the worst in 2022-23 during the past five financial years, damaging 2,02,214 houses. The numbers of houses damaged by floods were 1,40,440 in 2019-20; 57,931 in 2020-21; 2,163 in 2021-22; and 3,805 in 2023-24. Floods also damaged around 6.51 lakh hectares of crop area in the state during the past five financial years.

To combat the damage from disasters, the state governments get funds under both the SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund) and the NDRF. The funds under NDRF are additional funds, as the funding pattern is cent-per-cent or 100 percent from the central government.

The funds under SDRF are disbursed as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission, and the state governments have to contribute 10 percent of the total allocation as matching funds. The funding pattern of funds under SDRF is in the ratio of 90:10, with the Centre bearing the lion's share.

Declaring floods and erosion a national problem has been a long-pending demand from Assam, but it is yet to bear fruition.

It is unfortunate for a flood-ravaged state like Assam that in the past five financial years it has received only Rs 294.37 crore in additional funds under the NDRF: Rs 44.37 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 250 crore in 2022-23. The state received no funds under NDRF in the financial years 2019-20, 2021-22, and 2023-24.

The state government sought around Rs 500 crore from the Central Government under NDRF when an inter-ministerial central team of the Ministry of Home Affairs assessed the flood damage in the state recently.

The statistics of damage caused by floods in the state make it crystal clear that without adequate financial assistance from the central government, it is next to impossible for the state government to make adequate repairs to the infrastructure, leave alone getting rid of the interminable menace.

 Also Read: Assam: ASDMA to retrofit flood shelter schools in flood-prone districts (sentinelassam.com)

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