Rajnath Singh to visit flood-hit Assam, death toll rises to 21

The strong current of the river has breached embankment of the Manas National Park and water has started inundating the wildlife sanctuary.

Guwahati

: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Assam on Saturday to assess the flood situation which has affected over 18-lakh people residing in the state. The death toll in current flood has reached 21 on Friday.

The strong current of the river has breached embankment of the Manas National Park and water has started inundating the wildlife sanctuary.

The worst hit districts include Lakhimpur Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup and South Kamrup.

More than 1.3 lakh people have taken shelter in relief camps set up by the state administration in 19 flood-hit districts and the Army, National and State Disaster Response Force personnel are going all out to provide relief.

The Brahmaputra and its tributaries are in spate and flooded several districts including the Kaziranga National Park.

Singh who spoke to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to take stock of the situation will make an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Nagaon and Morigaon districts besides Kaziranga National Park. He is also scheduled to visit some relief camps where people uprooted in floods have taken shelter.

He will also meet Mr Sonowal and government officers before returning to Delhi in the evening.

The state government has maintained that flood relief and rescue measures will be top priority for them, and that disaster-response forces are doing everything that they can do to salvage the situation.

Meanwhile, Assam chief minister also had an aerial survey of flood-hit districts on Thursday and directed the authorities to extend all necessary support to the floods-victims.