PM assures help to flood-ravaged Asom

New Delhi, Aug 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured immediate succour to Assam which has been reeling under floods since June last, according to the State Unit of the Congress Parliamentary Party here.

Assam State CPP Convenor Anwar Hussain said the Prime Minister told a ten-member delegation of the Unit that he would sanction funds and all other possible help as soon as he received a Requirement Report from the State Chief Minister.

A similar ''positive reponse'' was given by Dr Singh when the delegation urged the Prime Minister to take up river-protection works on the Brahmaputra, Mr Hussain added.

The PM was also understood to have assured the delegation which called on him yesterday that persons forcibly ousted from some north-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram would be facilitated in being allowed to return to their homes and resettled.

The delegation had brought to his notice several instances of muslims being forced to leave these states by ''communal elements'', Mr Hussain said.

The Assam Congress MPs also sought deployment of ''sufficient numbers'' of para-military forces in the state where insurgent-violence continued to claim innocent lives.

UNI