PM to visit Assam, assess flood situation on August 1

Guwahati: Putting an end to all the consistent attacks from the Opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday decided to visit Assam to inspect and assess the situation in flood-hit areas of the state on August 1.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to visit Assam on August 1,” tweeted Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Though details of Prime Minister’s day-long tour programme is yet to be known, the security sources stated that he would go for an aerial survey of the worst flood-hit districts of Dhemaji, Majuli and North Lakhimpur districts.

The Prime Minister’s announcement came after Opposition political parties started accusing him of ignoring the devastating floods of Assam and the northeast while giving priority to his home state, Gujarat, for which he announced an interim relief of Rs 500 crore.

The Congress, while attacking the Prime Minister for not announcing any interim relief package for Assam, said, “Prime Minister remembers Assam only during the elections.” However, Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma strongly countered the allegation.

“Some people are trying to spark a controversy that Mr Modi has visited Gujarat and not Assam. Are we showpiece that some one will come to see us?” said Mr Sarma.

He clarified that the central government had extended all necessary help to the state during the floods and even an inter-ministerial team had been appointed in the state to assess the damage caused by the floods.

It is significant that about 11,000 people are still reeling under floods in Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Karimganj, with a little over 2,000 people currently lodged in 10 relief camps, the daily report read.

The floods have devastated over 2.10 lakh-hectare of crop area in Assam of which about 40,000-hectare of paddy fields have been rendered unusable due to heavy silt deposit ranging from two to 10 feet.