The Army has been kept stand by to assist the civil administration as the flood situation in Assam today further worsened with fresh areas being submerged by the rising waters of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries in the 19 affected districts of the state, official sources said. The current wave of floods have claimed 14 lives so far while more than 13 lakh people have been affected with nearly 1500 people rendered homeless.The state’s 4,200-odd km long embankment is now failing to resist the mounting pressure of the Brahmaputra and its numerous tributaries. Most portions of the embankment were constructed in the 1960s and are said to have crossed the life expectancy. According to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, nearly 70 per cent of the state’s embankments cannot prevent floods and strengthening the embankments would require a massive inflow of funds. ‘‘The people of the state are living under tremendous risk. Most of the embankments have been functioning only because of God’s grace. We need a lot of funds. But the Centre has not released a single rupee in the past three years,’’ said Minister for Water Resources and Flood Control Nurzamal Sarkar. At the same time, he said, over Rs 55 crore pending for completion of old schemes has also remained blocked in New Delhi.Flood management schemes in Assam are supposed to be funded through various schemes under Central Loan Assistance, Central Sector Schemes, non-lapsable Central pool of resources, the North-Eastern Council and the Joint River Commission.Meanwhile, the official report said that over 12 lakh people in 19 districts have been affected by the current wave of floods in the state. Dhemaji, the eastern-most district of the state has remained cut off for more than 10 days with the national highway as well as the lone metre gauge railway track severed at several places.Official sources said already 25 people have been drowned and nearly two million have been affected. The Brahmaputra proper has been flowing above the red mark in several districts for the past three days. Majuli, the world’s largest river island, has remained one of the most badly-hit, with 40 villages remaining inundated since Sunday. About 45,000 hectares of standing crop has been damaged in the island.Massive erosion has posed a serious threat to the people of Mukalmua area under Barkshetri revenue circle in Nalbari district. About 40 revenue villages of the circle have already been wiped out by heavy erosion caused by the river in the past 50 years as the Brahmaputra has been changing its course towards Mukalmua after the great earthquake of 1950. About 80,000 people have lost their property to the river and are now being rehabilitated in different parts of the circle.The state has released about 2000 quintals of rice, dal and salt in different districts and has started 17 relief camps.
