New Delhi: The seven member Inter-Ministerial team of Central Government is presently on visit to Assam to assess the damage caused by recent floods in the state. The team is led by the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs Shri V. Shashank Shekhar, Government of India. The team is visiting Assam following directions by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi after his meeting with Chief Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal on July 18th in New Delhi.
The Inter Ministerial team called on Chief Minister Shri Sarbanada Sonowal today in Guwahati, Assam. They apprised the Chief Minister about the findings of their visit to the flood affected districts.
Shri Shashank Shekhar informed the Chief Minister that they personally saw the damages and the distress and migration of the flood-hit people. He mentioned that the teams were divided into two groups and visited the flood hit Brahmaputra and Barak valley districts. As part of their on-the-spot-assessment, the teams interacted with the affected people and respective district administrations to find out the intensity of damage caused by the flood, he informed.
The Chief Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal said that most of the embankments which were constructed as safeguard to rural economy and habitations have already outlived their life. He further informed the team that already a proposal was submitted to the Government of India to take up ‘Prime Minister’s Special Programme for Flood and Erosion Control’ for developing embankments of the state as road-cum-embankments stretching 5,000 km. The Chief Minister said that once the 5000 km stretch is converted into road-cum-embankments, this would help rural people in terms of connectivity and will benefit rural economy as well as tourism. This initiative would also facilitate implementation of PMGSY to connect every village in the state. The Chief Minister also referred to the issue of resettlement of people who became homeless and landless due to flood. Considering the gravity of the situation and the intensity of flood damage in Assam, Shri Shashank Shekhar informed the Chief Minister that the team would submit their report at the earliest to the Central Government so that fund for tackling the flood related issues could be released expeditiously.
The team visited Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Barpeta, Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts of Assam for on-the-spot-assessment of flood damage.
The other members of the team include Shri P.M. Scott, Chief Engineer, CWC, Shillong; Shri Sanjay Kumar, Director (States-NE) NITI Aayog; Shri B.K. Mishra, Assistant Director, Ministry of Finance; Shri Sachin Kumar Gautam, Assistant Executive Engineer, Road, Transport & Highways; Shri Rakesh Kumar, Assistant Director, Rural Development, National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) and Shri A.L. Wagmare, Director Department of Sugarcane Development, Lucknow, UP.
