Central team concludes Assam flood survey, urges mitigation projects and wetland restoration

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT), comprising six members from different ministries of the central government, today wrapped up their on-spot flood assessment visit to the state for the years 2025 and 2026 after meeting with state Chief Secretary Dr Ravi Kota. In a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary at Janata Bhawan in Dispur today, the central team briefed the participants on their experiences of visiting the districts across the state.

The meeting was attended by the senior officials of line departments of the state government; central agencies like NDRF, the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, NHAI, NF Railways, FCI, BSNL, DoT, etc.; and the district administrations of six flood-affected districts in virtual mode, where the IMCT visited and proposed to visit.

The IMCT was divided into 2 groups to visit the flood-affected districts of the state. The first team, comprising team leader Praveen Kumar Rai, Joint Secretary (UT), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (GoI); Mahesh Kumar, Joint Director-FCD, DoE, Ministry of Finance; and Dr SVSP Sharma, Scientist-SF, National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, visited the flood-affected areas of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts.

The second team, including Sanjeev Kumar Suman, Director, CWC, Ministry of Jal Shakti; Prabhat Kumar, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development; and Shri Dheeraj, Regional Officer, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, visited the Cachar district. They will also visit Chirang and Bajali districts on Saturday (July 11, 2026). The central team discussed the damages and losses to the livelihoods and properties of the visiting districts in the meeting.

The Government of Assam informed the central team that, as the rainy season is in progress in the state and the damage assessment is still ongoing, the final flood memorandum from the state would be submitted to the Government of India after the flood season is over.

The team has also suggested that the state government undertake mitigation projects under the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) for dredging and channelisation of smaller rivers and tributaries to enhance their water-carrying capacity and reduce flood runoff, as well as projects like the restoration of wetlands in flood-inundated districts for floodwater cushioning.

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