Assam yet to get additional funds for post-flood restoration works

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Assam is expectantly looking forward to receiving additional financial assistance from the Centre for restoration measures of the damage caused by floods last year. The annual floods in 2024 caused huge damage to the state’s infrastructure, with 42.95 lakh people in 7794 villages in 35 districts affected by the devastating waves of flood.

This year, the heavy rains in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya in the past several days have already provided a glimpse of the floods to come in the monsoon season. In this pre-monsoon period, a few areas of Narayanpur in the Lakhimpur district have seen some flooding, with the Kachikota River overflowing its banks due to the rainwater from Arunachal flowing down in good quantity following the persistent and heavy rainfall in the past few days. Already, a portion of the road connecting Simaluguri and Howajan in the Narayanpur area has been washed away by the untimely floodwaters.

According to the Central Water Commission (CWC) report on Friday morning, the water levels of the Brahmaputra River at Neamatighat, Tezpur and Guwahati are showing a rising trend. A rising trend in the water level of the Noa Dihing River in Arunachal’s Namsai has also been noticed. However, at present, the water level in both rivers is below the warning level.

Last year’s floods in the state were so devastating that 121 people lost their lives, besides substantial damages to standing crops, infrastructure like roads, bridges, irrigation facilities, health facilities, schools, livestock, etc.

Post the floods, the state government requested the central government to provide financial assistance of Rs 1681.49 crore for immediate restoration and recovery measures.

In a flood memorandum to the Centre, it was stated that the state is in need of large-scale financial assistance to recover from the extensive damage and losses due to floods. It was further mentioned that the fund allotted for the state under SDRF will not be sufficient to meet the expenditure for restoration works. Also, that assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) will immensely help the state to recover at the earliest.

Unfortunately, so far, the state government has not received any amount out of the Rs 1681.49 crore requested from the central government to recover from the extensive damage and losses due to the floods last year.

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