 "Assam floods: Narendra Modi announces Rs 2,350 cr package towards relief, rehabilitation in the North East")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Assam for a one-day visit on Tuesday, has announced an assistance of Rs 2,350 crore for the North East, out of which Rs 2,000 crore will be used towards flood relief and rehabilitation, while Rs 250 crore would be released immediately to Assam to help the state leapfrog relief and rehabilitation work. “The prime minister has allocated Rs 100 crore to form a high-powered committee that will conduct a study on the behaviour of the Brahmaputra river,” Assam education and health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters in Guwahati. “The Centre had given us Rs 300 crore earlier as flood relief fund. In addition to that, we are immediately getting Rs 250 crore from the Centre for flood relief,” he said. The Assam minister said that the state government has already announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each under the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the relatives of people killed and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured during the floods in Assam. While a total of 130 have reportedly died from the entire North East in the flood which has displaced over 25 lakhs people, the state of Assam has been hit the most by the deluge with nearly 83 people killed in Assam alone and over 20 lakh people affected by the flood. Modi, who arrived at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport earlier today, was received by Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The Prime Minister reached Assam, where he will review the flood situation, interact with CMs & officials of various states of the Northeast pic.twitter.com/P7vvnQYhHy
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 1, 2017
Modi also met Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, Nagaland chief minister TR Zeliang and Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh as well as officials from the states to review the flood situation in the North East. Modi also addressed a meeting of NDA legislatures from BJP, BPF and AGP, Sarma said.
PM @narendramodi, Assam CM @sarbanandsonwal, Ministers from the Centre & Assam, officials review the flood situation in the state. pic.twitter.com/truJgzLRtz
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 1, 2017
A seven-member inter-ministerial central team had visited Assam on 25 July for four days to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of flood damage. However, earlier on Monday, Congress leader and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi had criticised Modi saying that the prime minister is making a “token visit to the state only after facing severe criticism from all quarters as he visited Gujarat, but neglected Assam.” This year, two waves of floods in the state have affected around 25 lakh people from 29 districts prompting the administration to set up 1,098 distribution centres and relief camps, where about 1.32 lakh people took shelter. Though the current wave of floods has receded, six districts are still reeling under floods and over 2,000 people have taken shelter in the relief camps. With inputs from PTI
