Flood in Assam: Govt to Set-up Task Forces for Flood Damage Assessment

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: In a bid to simplify the process for clearance of rehabilitation grant to fix damage caused by flood, the Assam government has decided to set up task forces for the assessment of flood damage at the revenue circle level with the Revenue Circle Officer as the focal point and the deputy commissioner (DC) as the approving head.

Under the new policy decision, the DCs would have financial power and would be the final clearing authority for rehabilitation grants. This has been done as part of the instructions given by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for fast-track clearances.

Each task force will comprise the revenue circle officer as the focal point and other departments' local-level officers as members. Each of the task forces will prepare proposals for rehabilitation grants and send them to the deputy commissioner concerned. On its part, the deputy commissioner will place the proposal at the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting for approval. The DC will give the final financial approval. To make this happen, the government will delegate financial power to the DCs shortly.

Earlier, such proposals were first assessed at the district level by the departments concerned and then sent to the DDMAs for examination. The DDMAs used to send the cleared proposals to the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the ASDMA (Assam State Disaster Management Authority). The SEC used to approve the proposals received from the DDMAs and send them to the Revenue and Disaster Management Department that sent them to the Finance Department for the final clearance.

It was a meandering process that has been streamlined now.

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