CM Himanta Biswa Sarma apprises Amit Shah about flood situation

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his official residence in New Delhi and apprised him about the flood situation in the State.

Sarma informed Shah about the slew of relief and rehabilitation measures adopted by the State Government to tackle the situation during the meeting on Friday evening. Sarma thanked the Union Home Minister for releasing Rs 340 crore SDRF for Assam. He said that urban flooding was a phenomenon in metropolitan cities and Guwahati was also no exception. He said that efforts were on to channelize excess water from the Brahmaputra River into wetlands, and this had been done in the case of Deepor Beel as per the suggestion of the Union Home Minister. The Chief Minister said that road-cum-embankments were being built to tackle floods in the State. "We have taken up some flood mitigation projects in the State," said the Chief Minister.

Sarma also met Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav at his official residence here on Saturday and sought his help for procuring one crore quality saplings for plantation in Assam under the PM's LiFE Mission.

The Union Minister assured the Chief Minister that he would help to rope in experts from Dehradun in the next 2-3 days for assisting the Government of Assam in plantation of one crore saplings under PM's LiFE Mission. The Chief Minister said that the State Government has floated national tender to obtain 1 crore saplings for the massive plantation drive in the State.

Chief Minister Sarma met Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena at his official residence on Friday and sought help to find a suitable location for setting up a mega Cultural Complex in the national capital. Sarma later tweeted, "Absolute delight meeting Hon'ble Lt Governor of Delhi VK Saxena. Got a lot to learn from his vast experience and his efforts to transform Delhi despite challenging circumstances."

The Chief Minister told media persons in New Delhi that there was no opposition to the delimitation exercise and only some issues had cropped up relating to redrawing and renaming of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies. All this can be taken up during the forthcoming visit of the Election Commission of India (ECI), he said. He disclosed that the State Government had submitted a list of constituencies to the ECI following grievances for making necessary modifications.

"The issues that have surfaced following the draft delimitation will be 99 per cent resolved if they are placed before the Election Commission," he added.

The Chief Minister ruled out the possibility of a reshuffle of the state cabinet before the 2024 Parliamentary elections. He was quick to add that a major rejig will take place before the Assembly elections.

Sarma also visited Noida to oversee the construction work of the Bir Lachit Barphukan statue.

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