This year’s flood in two waves has been the worst in Assam in terms of fatalities, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.
A total of 195 people died, 19 of them in the rain-induced landslips, since April while 37 others were reported missing. The two waves affected about 90 lakh people and damaged crops on 2.40 lakh hectares.
“I don’t recall having seen such floods in the State before. I am told the number of people who lost their lives this year is the highest ever,” he told journalists on Saturday.
“Floods and landslips affected one-third of the State’s population and 54,837 cattle died. Thankfully, the floods have spared the animals of the Kaziranga National Park,” Mr. Sarma said.
He said 7,42,250 of the marooned had taken shelter in relief camps and camp-like places. They did not face any shortage of relief in the camps barring the first day when the focus of the authorities was on their evacuation, he claimed.
“Rescue workers evacuated about one lakh flood-hit people. It was a massive operation,” the Chief Minister said, insisting no case of flood-related diarrhoea had been reported so far.
‘Centre helping State’
He said the Centre had been providing assistance to the State although not as the conventional relief package. “The Centre has been extremely cooperative, spending 90% of the expenditure incurred in flood mitigation as and when required. The State is providing 10%,” he added.
The State government, he said, had provided ₹3,800 each to 1.81 lakh flood-affected families and ₹1,000 each to 1.01 lakh students to help them buy their textbooks.
Mr. Sarma said the government would soon undertake the exercise of rebuilding 3,03,930 houses that were fully or partially damaged during the floods. “From July 20-30, the Ministers will be on the field along with officials to verify the damage and identify the beneficiaries. We will spend around ₹400 crore in rebuilding the houses,” he said.
The damaged infrastructure would also be reconstructed at an estimated cost of ₹1,000 crore, the Chief Minister said.
