Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the Congress party had no moral grounds for questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Gujarat to assess the flood situation and give Assam, also suffering massive floods, a miss. Speaking exclusively to The Hindu , Mr. Sonowal said, “The Opposition [Congress] have no moral grounds to attack our honourable Prime Minister [Narendra Modi]. During the 2012 flood, people well remember that [former Chief Minister] Mr. Tarun Gogoi was away in the United States rather than be in Assam to oversee flood relief,” he said.
In contrast, Mr. Sonowal said, Prime Minister Modi was the first person to call when there were apprehensions of floods in Assam. “I briefed him about the whole situation and immediately I got an assurance from him of all help. He said, go ahead. Immediately after that, he directed concerned Ministers to take measures, as per the requirements of my government. Ministers like Rajnath, Suresh Prabhu, Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari called me up after that to extend support,” he said.
‘Rijiju to assess’
“Not only this, Prime Minister Modi also asked Kiren Rijiju to go to the most affected zones, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji, to make an assessment of that situation,” he added.
He also declared that there was enough money in the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) for relief work, and that the money had been allocated in the month of June itself, before the flooding.
“The previous government used to float tenders for building embankments in the month of April. The month after that, that of May, was the rainy season, so no work could happen then. Contractors would then put up fake bills to get payment. We changed all that, we completed this process of tendering for embankments by December last year and, for the first time in Assam, work [on the embankments] began in the month of January. During this period, under our government, we have completed the construction of 88 embankments. Out of these 88 embankments, only one was breached, at Marigaon. All other 87 embankments are protecting villages from flood and erosion. We spent ₹350 crore from the SDRF. Even today, we have ₹389 crore in the SDRF. We are well-prepared for the relief work that is required,” Mr. Sonowal said.
Wildlife rescued
He said that relief, normally provided for people and domesticated animals, was being carried out for the wild animals stranded in the Kaziranga National Park, home of the Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros.
‘ULFA anti-national’
When asked about the United Liberation Front of Assam’s (ULFA) demand that Hindi-speaking people in the Barak Valley be evicted and speakers of Assamese language displaced by floods settled there, Mr. Sonowal said, “No one can touch my Indian citizen in Assam.”
“I am there to protect everyone’s rights and privileges. The ULFA are anti-national. They can talk anything against India. But we are there, together, and will not allow anything like this to happen,” Mr. Sonowal said.
PTI adds:
Modi to visit on August 1
Mr. Modi is scheduled to visit Assam on August 1, 2017 to review the flood situation in the State. Floods in Assam have claimed 79 lives so far.
