Assam: BJP highlights basin-wide strategy for flood management

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the state’s flood problem is a basin-wide Himalayan river management issue rather than an Assam-specific challenge, attributing flooding to heavy sediment load, inflows from neighbouring states and countries, river course changes, urbanisation and upstream hydropower projects.

In a statement, BJP spokesperson Mita Nath Bora said the Assam government has strengthened flood management over the past decade by constructing about 700.3 km of new embankments, reinforcing 540.2 km of existing embankments, implementing 280 anti-erosion projects, and building 43 sluice gates. She claimed that only one embankment had breached recently out of 1,240.5 km of embankments.

Bora also highlighted initiatives such as the Assam Integrated River Basin Management Project (AIRBMP), the Climate Resilient Brahmaputra Integrated Flood and River Erosion Management Project and the National Hydrology Project, stating that they aim to strengthen long-term flood management through scientific planning, climate resilience and improved flood forecasting.

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