Assam floods: Tarun Gogoi seeks Rs 9,370 cr from Centre

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday sought a Rs 9,370-crore assistance from the Centre to mitigate the problems faced by floods and rebuild damaged infrastructure, and rehabilitate victims and strengthen embankments. Gogoi submitted his demand through a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who paid an aerial visit to flood-affected areas of Assam and Meghalaya during the day. [caption id=“attachment_1739603” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tarun Gogoi. PTI[/caption] “The State Government in its memorandum to the Union Home Minister sought Rs 2,010 crore for damaged infrastructure, which includes roads and bridges, dwelling houses, health centres and school buildings,” an official release said. The government also demanded Rs 660 crore for rescue and relief operations, it added. Besides, Rs 6,700 crore was sought as special assistance to the state that includes Rs 3,500 crore for raising and strengthening of embankments, and Rs 1,000 crore for mitigating of flood problems in Guwahati city, the release said. Singh today announced a Rs 286-crore Central assistance to flood-hit Assam, which will be in addition to Rs 386 crore already released to the state. Gogoi, while apprising Singh about the damages caused by this year’s flood, particularly the latest deluge in Kamrup Rural, Kamrup Metro and Goalpara districts, pointed out that erosion posed a greater threat than flood in the state. “Flood causes a temporary setback but erosion causes permanent damage. So far, four lakh hectares of land has been gobbled up by the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers in the past 50 years, with the rate of erosion being 8,000 hectares every year,” Gogoi said. The Chief Minister requested Singh for his kind intervention in expediting the process for setting up of the Brahmaputra River Valley Authority (BRVA) as a long-term mitigation measures on both Brahmaputra and Barak river basins. Gogoi made a plea to Singh for a chapter of the National Institute of Disaster Management in the state. “If the setting up of the National Institute of Disaster Management is not possible, then a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50 crore may be given for a State Institute of Disaster Management,” he added. The state government also sought some changes in the SDRF guidelines for raising the ex-gratia to the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in natural calamities from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh to persons up to 14 years and Rs 5 lakh to persons above 14. PTI