Month and 100 deaths later, ₹2K-cr relief for flood-hit NE

The Centre on Tuesday announced a ₹2,000 crore relief and rehabilitation package for five flood-affected states in the northeast region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement during his day-long trip to Guwahati where he had gone to assess the damage — exactly a week after his aerial survey of floods in his home state of Gujarat evoked criticism in Assam and other parts of the region.

The Prime Minister held three meetings to learn about the scale of devastation in the region and to find short- and long-term measures to end the annual cycle.

Giving details of the relief package to the media, Assam’s water resources minister Keshab Mahanta said out of the total package, the state is “expected to get around ₹1,200 crore to rebuild and repair damage caused to infrastructure.”

Modi also announced an immediate relief package of ₹250 crore to Assam where floods have claimed 83 lives to date and affected over 2 million people in 29 of the state’s 32 districts.

“The Prime Minister also announced setting up a highpowered committee to study the course of the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries, and suggest permanent remedial measures to end floods,” Mahanta said, adding a corpus of ₹100 crore has been earmarked for this.

Large scale deposit of silt on the banks of Brahmaputra and its tributaries in the region during monsoon season is one of the reasons for the overflowing of the rivers and their flooding.

The Centre has planned to dredge the Brahmaputra in a bid to address the flood problem.

Separate meetings were held with chief ministers of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland where an assessment was made of the damage caused in each state.

“We apprised the PM of the situation in Nagaland where 19 people have been killed. A central team will be sent to the state to assess the damage,” chief minister TR Zeliang said.