Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here on Saturday that the Center has declared this year’s Assam floods perhaps the worst natural calamity in the history of the state. He said the central government was providing funds to mitigate the hardships being faced by the affected people, adding that the center would bear 90 per cent of the relief and rehabilitation expenses.
Addressing a press conference after launching the scheme to provide a one-time payment of Rs 1,000 to students who lost their textbooks in the deluge, he said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has done “whatever he can to alleviate the hardships of the people”. required”. and rebuilding the infrastructure”. Assam has seen two waves of floods since April 6, the other being devastating, affecting 9 million people or a third of the state’s population, while 195 people lost their lives and 37 people are still missing.
“We had never seen such a huge flood. Our priority was to take the affected people to relief camps, ensure their safety, provide medical aid and help them return home after the water receded. It was a challenging task,” he said. Sarma said over 98,500 people were evacuated, while 7,42, 250 were displaced and took shelter in relief camps.
“For the first time, the state government has taken a step to provide one-time assistance of Rs 3,800 per family in the form of ‘pot grant’ to those returning home. Around 1,89,752 families have been identified and the amount has been paid. All those 35,000 families whose bank details are yet to be processed,” he said. The state government has also decided to provide Rs 1,000 as one-time grant to each student living in relief camps and 1,01,537 of them have been identified.
“An amount of Rs 10.10 crore has been disbursed from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for this purpose and with today’s launch, students will receive the amount in their bank accounts,” he said. Other than this, education Sarma said that the department would provide free text books to those students whose books were lost in the floods.
The state government has also provided a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the floods this year. He said the evaluation of the damaged houses would continue till July 20, after which verification would be done by the ministers and secretaries concerned who would be on the field from July 20 to 30.
As per the available data, 3,03,930 houses have been damaged, including 25,670 completely and 2,78,260 partially, with Cachar district having the highest number of 1,75,618 damaged houses. He said the compensation is expected to be given by August 16 and an amount of Rs 400 crore would be disbursed for this.
“We are also trying to include a new category to provide compensation to those whose houses have been completely washed away, which will be given from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund,” he said. Damaged infrastructure such as embankments, roads, bridges, schools, government buildings and Anganwadi centers will be assessed and reconstructed in August.
“An estimated Rs 1,000 crore may be required for the purpose for which we expect to get the approval by September,” he said. “The situation is challenging but we have dealt with it in an organized manner. We have not involved any middlemen but the amount is being transferred directly to the beneficiaries,” Sarma said.
Asked whether floods should be declared a ‘national problem’, the Chief Minister said some social organizations have made such a demand, but the Center has already declared the Assam floods as a “serious natural calamity” and the state government is getting the necessary funds for this. deal with the situation. Asked whether a permanent solution to the floods in the state is possible, he said so far no scientist has said that the annual phenomenon can be completely prevented but they are “reducing or reducing flooding”. Let’s talk about managing”. “The government is always trying to solve the problem but no permanent solution has been proposed so far,” he said.
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