GUWAHATI, July 12 - The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to depute a high-level team of the Union Government comprising Union ministers and officials of the Water Resources, Health and Family Welfare, Surface Transport and Agriculture along with the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry departments to make an immediate assessment of the damage caused by the current wave of flood to infrastructure and the loss of lives, and requirements in the areas of healthcare, rehabilitation and adequate compensation to the flood-hit people of the State.
The APCC memorandum, signed by its president, Ripun Bora, stated that the presence of such a delegation is also needed to supervise and streamline the entire flood relief system in the State.
He alleged that the State Government and the district administrations have utterly failed to provide timely and immediate relief to the affected people. Lakhs of people are still living under the open sky and are at the mercy of the elements under an atmosphere of hunger, disease and misery. There is no clear direction to the district administrations and coordination among the government departments concerned is also lacking, which has affected the entire relief and rescue operations very badly.
It is also not comprehended as to what prevented the State Government from anticipating the flood this time and thus to make any contingency plans to combat the situation despite the fact that flood has now become a regular annual phenomenon in the State, he said.
He also alleged that the incompetence of the State Government has made things tougher in providing relief to the flood-hit people and saving lives in the flood-hit areas. He asserted that such inadequacies in meeting the basic needs of the people are tantamount to gross violation of human rights.
