Watch: Assam Minister Turns Boatman To Ferry Man To Hospital Amid Floods

An Assam minister was seen rowing a boat through an inundated street in the state which is facing the current wave of flooding that began nearly a fortnight ago. Parimal Suklabaidya, Assam's transport minister, turned boatman for a patient who needed to visit a hospital for his scheduled dialysis.

A set of videos showed Mr Suklabaidya wading through a flooded street in Barak valley in the wooden boat.

Brahmaputra and Barak rivers along with its tributaries are in spate in most of the affected districts and vast tracts of land remained inundated in 32 of the total 35 districts in the state. The flood waters, however, receded in a few places.

Several people were seen walking, knee-deep in water, alongside the boat.

The Transport Minister has been camping at Silchar in Cachar and monitoring the flood situation in the Barak valley with the local MLAs, deputy commissioners and senior officials of the three districts.

The flood situation in Assam remained grim on Thursday with 45.34 lakh in 30 districts still affected, officials said.

Three districts of Barak Valley- Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj - were severely affected by the rising water of the Barak and Kushiara rivers while Silchar town was submerged due to the breach of an embankment.

However, the worst affected districts are Barpeta with 10,32,561 people suffering due to the flood followed by Kamrup (4,29,166), Nagaon (5,03,308) and Dhubri (3,99,945), according to a bulletin of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority.