Guwahati: Mitigating a natural disaster often emerges as a major challenge for the human race and the annual flood in Assam continues to be a matter of serious concern for the region and the nation as well. For decades the perennial flood visits the State to devastate the crop, private & public properties, erode large areas and even kill many people. Often government schemes are announced and also implemented accordingly but that hardly works. Once we talked about controlling the flood (so the flood control department existed) and now admit we have to adopt the ways to live with the flood. Strict measures to prevent erosion even after inundation of vast areas may emerge as a focal point for discussion and formulation of pragmatic policies. Till then the media must go on reporting facts on the disaster and support the government agencies to help the affected villagers in getting adequate relief and rehabilitation on time. The flood not only affects the people economically, but it may change the course of lives for many families for good as many residents may even lose their own villages forever.
The second wave of flood hit over 2.7 million people in 30 districts of Assam, where more than 3500 villages were submerged by the flood water for many days. Thousands of families in the districts of Dhubri, Goalpara, Lakhimpur, Darrang, Golaghat, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Biswanath, Cachar, Charaideo, Chirang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kamrup & Kamrup (metropolitan), Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Kokrajhar, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Tamulpur, Tinsukia, Udalguri, etc had taken shelter in relief camps set up by the administration and the deluge snatched away the live of 78 people. Besides Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram are also witnessing relentless rains and subsequent floods for more than a week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah assured full cooperation to the State government to deal with the natural disaster.
Sarma also directed the State ministers, legislators and concerned officials to monitor the situation closely and take necessary action as and when needed. He himself visited flood-affected areas in different parts of the State to review the ground situation. Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria visited flood affected Morigaon district and spent time with the flood hit people of Bhuragaon village. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also assessed the flood situation in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts and asserted that both the governments in New Delhi and Dispur were looking for a permanent solution to the region’s recurring flood problem. Amidst the chaos, a minor boy was swept away in Bamunimaidan area of Guwahati by the current of flood water and his body was recovered three days later from a drain in Rajgarh locality. The victim, identified as Avinash Sarkar (8), was returning home at Noonmati locality with his father during the evening hours amidst rains when he fell on a roadside drain. His parents identified the body at Gauhati medical college hospital morgue and last rites were performed accordingly.
Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve also went under flood water from the swollen Brahmaputra river and no less than 135 wild animals including 6 rhinos died due to drowning and other causes. The park authorities however successfully rescued 96 animals including two rhino calves. The safe habitat for the largest population of single horn rhinos in the world eventually experiences flooding every year and subsequently the precious animals cross the National Highway-715 on its southern border to climb the hilly areas of Karbi Anglong. As many inmates die while crossing the highway by speeding vehicles, the authorities instruct the drivers to maintain the safe speed limit. Often the vehicles are escorted by the forest officials while crossing the park to avoid any accidents with the fleeing animals. Manas National Park and Orang National Park also faced the fury of flood even though no major wildlife destruction was reported from the forest reserves.
Even if the flood cannot be mitigated fully in Assam, the devastating impact of the annual disaster can be minimised with proper and timely policies. New Delhi should also discuss with upper riparian countries like Bhutan and Tibet (China) for receiving timely alerts about unusual rainfall and other hydro activities in their places. It’s also time for the government to redefine the flood adaptation measures so that it can also bring some positive outcome for the common people in the coming days.
Mitigating perennial flood in Assam
