In Flood-Ravaged Assam, Minimal Change on Ground Despite Years of Central Aid

Lakhimpur: Flooding and swelling of embankments in Assam is an annual affair. For people in the state, the story is the same every year. While the state gets central aid in the name of rehabilitation and strengthening of embankments every year, on the ground, however there seems to be minimal change.

In this year's round of floods in the state, at least 10 people were killed and more than 12 lakh people were affected with a larger part of the state's 16 districts still marooned.  

Taking stock of the situation, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas and announced that the state government would constitute a Flood and Erosion Protection Authority with funding of Rs 1,000 crore on its own to strengthen the existing embankments and build new ones to replace the ones that have outlived their utility.

According to government sources, Assam has already submitted a proposal to the Centre to the tune of Rs 4,500 crore for strengthening more than 4,400 kilometres of vulnerable embankments.

But for years, people living in the Lakhimpur districts in the foothills of eastern Himalayas have seen their crops and livestock flowing away within minutes as the furious Brahmaputra swallows the embankments.

Since independence, Assam has lost 4.29 lakh hectares of land, roughly about 7.4 percent of its total land area to floods and erosion. In the past five decades, nearly 1 lakh families have been permanently landless. Every year, 9.31 lakh hectares of fertile agricultural land are inundated and the average loss in every flood in Assam is a whopping 125 crores.

At the same time, the state has received major funds for rehabilitation. Since 2001, Assam has received around Rs 1,000 crores for flood management.
The state has also got $142 million from the Asian Development Bank as part of the Assam Integrated Flood and River Bank Erosion Risk Management Project.

The big question therefore is -- where have all these funds gone? Only a thorough investigation will bring out the answers.