Flood victims of Assam stage protest against BJP govt, demand answers from CM

A minister of Assam had to face the ire of villagers against government's apathy towards the ongoing floods.

Guwahati, July 15: It has been close to two months since Assam is fighting floods. According to latest reports, a total of 15 lakh people have been affected by floods in 25 districts of the state.

Unfortunately, the death toll too has risen to 52 on Friday. Three deaths were reported from Dhemaji, Dhubri and Nagaon districts on Friday. Out of the 52 deaths, eight were reported from Guwahati.

Under such dire circumstances, the flood-affected people are fast losing their patience.
The inmates of Selek village in Majuli district, one of the worst flood-affected places, protested against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state for failing to provide adequate relief and rescue measures to the victims on Friday.

The angry villagers blocked the entry of Assam water resources minister Keshav Mahanta to Selek to register their protest against the state government. The locals were upset that the government did not do anything to stop the breach of an embankment in their village which further worsened the situation.

The villagers also questioned the minister and accompanying officials during their field visit as why chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who is the local MLA, did not visit Selek at all though he had visited Garmur, the district headquarters of Majuli.

Later the locals allowed the visiting team, led by Mahanta, to reach the spot and take stock of the situation. Once again, Mahanta had to face the ire of the public when a group of women blocked the road he was travelling through.

An official, who is currently a part of the rescue and relief operations in the flood-affected areas, told OneIndia that this time people of Assam were very upset about the government mishandling the entire situation.

He added that in several places villagers have expressed their anguish against the government for failing them so badly.

Experts say the impact of floods, mostly visible in the villages, could have been restricted to a greater extent if the state government had taken timely measures.

According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), at present more than 14.97 lakh people have been affected by the flood in various districts, including Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Morigaon and Nagaon.

Till yesterday, 17.43 lakh people were affected in the latest wave of flood in the state. At the Kaziranga National Park, 62 per cent of the area is under water, leaving some animals dead and some moving to nearby highlands.

Some animals were killed by speeding vehicles on the National Highway 37, which passes through the Park. The ASDMA said 2,240 villages were under water at present and more than 79,000 hectares of crop areas inundated.

The worst affected was South Salmara, where over 3.07 lakh people have been affected by the deluge, followed by Morigaon with more than 2.23 lakh people being affected.

In Guwahati also, water logging incidents have been reported, the ASDMA said. Authorities are running 363 relief camps and distribution centres in 19 districts, where 25,269 people have taken shelter.

The government has distributed 2,903.25 quintal of rice, 596.92 quintal of pulses, 366.25 quintal of salt and 472.52 litre of mustard oil among the flood victims till Thursday, the ASDMA said.

OneIndia News