An elephant in the room

The permanent solution to Assam's ravaging annual flood problem is the elephant in the room for policymakers in the state and at the Centre. With the first wave of flood inundating vast areas in several districts, the issues of relief distribution, shelter camps are going to overshadow other issues over the next four to five months. Heavy incessant rains in Eastern and northern Assam areas in the first week of June led to flash flood in two revenue circles of Lakhimpur districts and affected over 31,000 people in 22 villages in three districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Biswanath. Excessive rains have also led to the inundation of 13,417 hectares in five districts. These figures will spiral as the intensity of Monsoon rains increases. Inundation will increase when more breaches occur in the embankments most of which have outlived their spans. The talk of the misery of people affected by multiple waves of flood will fade out when flood intensity reduces. Lessons are never learnt and strengthening and repairing of breaches in the embankments damaged during the previous season always gather momentum just one or two months before the onset of the Monsoon season every year. There is the vested interest of some unscrupulous individuals behind the same story of poor preparedness repeating every flood season. Uncovering such vested interest groups and nexus requires strong political will which has been elusive. Assam Cabinet's decision to delegate more financial and administrative powers to the Deputy Commissioners in the matters of relief and flood damage repair is aimed at providing instant relief to affected people. Bureaucratic paperwork delays the release of relief assistance to flood-hit people. Such delays also often reflect in poor utilization of disaster response fund released by the central government. The prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation has compounded the challenges of flood management. National and State Disaster Response Force remaining fully prepared for emergency rescue operations can reduce worries of state authorities overburdened by pandemic management. Frequent occurrence of earthquakes in the state should put disaster preparedness at the optimal level and well prepared to handle the multi-disaster situation of COVID-19 pandemic, high flood situation and earthquake. Maintaining physical distance at the relief camps and ensuring COVID-appropriate behaviour of the inmates are challenging tasks but must be performed to prevent these camps from turning hotspots of COVID-19 infections. Meticulous planning in advance including providing emergency healthcare support in the makeshift relief camps of flood-affected people can help avoid confusion and chaos. A pragmatic solution can be earmarking relief camp spaces familywise to rule out infected members of coming into contacts with all other families sheltered in the same camps. Considering the high flood situation that grips the state, it is easier said than done but innovating solutions are important for better management of the multi-disaster situation. All these are essential but the short term in nature which cannot change the overall flood situation in the state. The mission to make Assam flood-free of the incumbent government requires long term solutions aimed at reducing the flood damage. About 40 per cent of the state's total land area is flood-prone and are located along the floodplains of the Brahmaputra, the Barak, and their tributaries. A flood-free Assam, therefore, is a misnomer. Reorienting the government outlook from making Assam flood-free to food resilient sounds more practical. The permanent solution to the flood problem implies reducing the miseries of people by scientific solutions aimed at reducing flood intensity through the strengthening of embankments, flood-resilient farming and building resilience of affected people by alleviating their financial and economic conditions. A basin level comprehensive study on the Brahmaputra, Barak and their tributaries is needed to understand the flood dynamics and come up with innovative solutions. Such studies involving experts having immense knowledge on the international river and flood management need adequate government funding. The central government announced a Rs 100 crore corpus in 2017 for setting up a research project on the Brahmaputra. The outcome of the announcement which is vital to finding a permanent solution to the flood problem in Assam is not known to the public. It is hoped that the Central and the State governments will shed light on the status of the proposed research project to inform people about the study findings, recommendations by experts for long term solutions based on the study and follow up measures. Experts engaged in a similar study commissioned by the state government earlier dropped out of the assignment as required data on the flow of the Brahmaputra Board were not shared by central government agencies on grounds of such data of the international river being classified in nature. Short-term solutions such as embankment repairing, relief distribution, anti-erosion measures are important, but these should not overshadow the larger interventions required to find long-term solutions for better flood management and making Assam flood resilient. Policymakers need to think out of the box.