Assam needs a magic wand. Just to end its date with devastation and dejection. To tame the menacingly mighty Brahmaputra. To change the Delhi mind-set.

North East News Agency

ASSAM is keeping its date with devastation and dejection this year too. Come rains. The mighty Brahmaputra and its tributaries move forward menacingly, force people climb embankments and make the countryside a large lake. For some floods are a major business- the bureaucrats, the contractors and the politicians. This year too was no exception.

The question is when Ahoms will see a permanent solution to the problem they have come to live with as long as they can remember. I do not know, says Tarun Gogoi, the non controversial Chief Minister, frankly. The key to the solution is with the Centre, according to him. Assam Government cannot tackle the flood menace on its own. Its resources are meagre. It doesn’t have enough money to pay the salaries to its staff. And the debt burden is Rs. 10,000 crore plus. Flood problem is gigantic: current wave of floods which began on June 16 have so far affected over 20 lakh people in 19 districts and destroyed standing crops in 32,395 hectares from Dhubri to Sadiya and in the Barak Valley. Says a local journalist: The apathy of the Centre is something surprising. Do we exist for them?

Elaborating he points out in 1998, one of the worst flood years, Assam received a paltry Rs. 59.90 crore as central aid but Uttar Pradesh was showered with Rs. 300 crore. So the question is: Is flood havoc in Assam less important for New Delhi. Doesn’t a loss of Rs.1, 200 crore (1998) merit special consideration? Or, is it a fall-out of out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome? Inescapable verdict is, according to Chief Minister, the Centre is not serious about Assam floods. It is difficult to disagree with Tarun Gogoi. Flood management demands a long term perspective planning. Beyond the creation of Brahmaputra board, the Centre has done precious little, even in respect of the need to minimise the water logging. Forget about coordination with Bangladesh and China, there is no move as yet to coordinate Asam flood management with neighbouring states, which are home to some of the tributaries. A report prepared by the National Flood Commission calls for construction of ‘detention reservoirs’ and dams in the upper reaches of the rivers- Brahmaputra, Barak and their 52 major tributaries. The report is gathering dust somewhere in the Shram Shakti Bhavan, the headquarters of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, in New Delhi. Bijoya Chakraborty from Assam is a junior minister at Water Resources. Brahmaputra Board is said to be one of her charges. From her track record, it is clear she too has not been of much help to her home State. In the last couple of years, her Water Resources Ministry did not release any funds to Assam to protect the embankments. “That is why we have failed to plug all the breaches’, claims a State official. His point is not that the floods would not have occurred if the breaches were plugged but that would have reduced the sufferings of the people. Laments the Chief Minister: “Over the years, the Government of India has failed to take the problem of floods in Assam seriously. Till date, no concrete step has been taken to mitigate our sufferings.” If he is bitter, Gogoi doesn’t express. More so when his colleagues note that the Central Government took the issue of draught in some states very seriously, but unfortunately, the Centre failed to show same kind of seriousness in dealing with the problem of floods.

Says Gogoi: “I have no objection to the Centre’s seriousness in trying to reduce the sufferings of the drought affected people in some parts of the country, but my point is that the Centre has failed to show same seriousness to mitigate the sufferings of flood affected people of Assam.”

Over the years, according to him, only ad-hoc measures have been taken to reduce the problem of floods as a fire fighting measure. When the gravity of the situation is conceded, what prevents New Delhi in offering adequate help to protect the flood control structures from the gushing waters? An exception to the apathy from successive rulers in Delhi was H. D. Deve Gowda. During his short stint at 7 Race Course Road, he has come up with some solutions to the problems bedevilling Assam and the north-east. Like for instance the creation of non-lapsable fund with 10 per cent of money allocated to all ministries. During his maiden visit to Guwahati, the farmer from Karnataka was moved by the plight of the fellow Ahom farmers due to floods. And immediately announced Rs 500 crore during the 9th Five Year Plan to take up flood control measures. But there was no follow up on the promise. Probably, he himself forgot about it as yet another decision taking during a quite nap through a busy schedule. Centre too has contributed to Assam’s plight. That is probably due to a bureaucratic oversight or absence of political wisdom. End result is same. Under the new policy, the State Government cannot spend the Calamity Relief Fund on reconstruction of damaged roads and bridges. After any flood, Assam needs to take up immediate repair works. It has been requesting the Centre to change its policy but till date, there is no positive response. There is a case to declare Assam floods as a national problem, according to experts. But Gogoi believes it is not going to be the magic wand. “Mere declaration of floods as a national problem will not mitigate the sufferings of our people if the Centre does not take concrete and effective steps to reduce the gravity of the situation”, he points out.

However, “if Assam floods are declared as a national problem, we would be able to put more pressure on the Centre. That should give us long term relief”, opines Gogoi. One culprit responsible for floods is environmental degradation. Felling of trees in the last few years has resulted in siltation of the river- beds and reduced the water carrying capacity of all the rivers including the Brahmaputra. The state government claims to have addressed the problem through fresh plantation. It will take some years to show results, provided of course all the trees shown in government records are actually planted and nursed.

Colossal loss

Due to floods Assam has suffered a loss of Rs 3,100 crore in the past five decades. Official estimates show that since 1954, various government agencies have completed as many as 631 flood control schemes and constructed about 4,458 km long dykes along the major rivers across the State. In order to protect a total of 31 lakh hectares of vulnerable land, which has been identified by the National Flood Commission, these embankments have been made. But out of these areas, only 16 lakh hectares could be protected from floods. Official records say that total loss in the early 80s was about Rs 228 crore. And it has been gradually increasing with every passing year. Surely, time has come for all concerned to find a way to tackle the flood menace. Floods in Assam and the North-East is one of the prime reasons for the backwardness of the region. To remove the backwardness of the region, tackling the flood menace is a must. Otherwise, all efforts to bring North-East at par with other mainland states, will come to a naught.

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