GUWAHATI, July 1 � The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Assam Pradesh, on Sunday demanded of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for a comprehensive survey on the total number of villages lost due to flood and erosion in Assam since the year 1950.
The party�s 13-point charter of demands include declaration of flood in the State as a national problem immediately and adequate relief for all the families affected by the current wave of flood till they harvest the next crop.
�We insist that all the embankments on both sides of the rivers of Assam, which can cause flood, be raised, strengthened and cemented to prevent breach,� said the party, adding that a detailed project report be prepared for systematic rehabilitation of the flood-affected people of the State in the newly formed islands in the midst of the mighty Brahmaputra river.
The party has also demanded for setting up of a research centre to study the rivers of Assam.
On the other hand, expressing concern over the reports of anomalies in distribution of relief, the party leaders, including State president Ranjit Dutta, party national vice president Bijoya Chakravarty and State vice president CK Das have called for distribution of relief in a transparent manner so that no flood-affected person is deprived of the relief and rehabilitation benefits.
�The total damage caused by the current flood must be assessed on war footing so that the State can design repair, rehabilitation and relief programmes in a proper manner and implement the same without any delay,� said the party leaders.
The party has called upon the Prime Minister to instruct the State Government to utilise the corpus of calamity relief fund.
�The State Government should be asked to ensure that in future no breach in any embankment is allowed to remain open before the onset of the flood season,� said the party, asking for a special package for solving the flood problem in the State permanently.
