GUWAHATI, Aug 23 - Stating that the amount of rainfall the State witnessed does not stand proportionate to the �third wave� of floods, the State government today tried to link the havoc with China�s not sharing hydrological data with India this year.
State minister and spokesperson Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that the State government will pursue the matter with the Central government so that the latter can impress upon its counterpart in China to share the data which could be analysed.
Talking to the media persons here today, he further said although the reason behind the �third wave� of floods is yet to be found, there are apprehensions that it may well have to do with release of water by China.
�The first two waves this year were caused by rainfall activity in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, mostly. The magnitude of the third wave of flood and the rainfall activity within India somehow do not correlate,� Sarma said.
On China�s apparent reluctance in sharing hydrological data with India, despite an agreement to do that periodically between May 15 and November 15 every year, Sarma said, �The Ministry of External Affairs has gone on record stating that China has not provided the data this year. Though the ministry has so far maintained that it is �premature� to link Assam�s third wave flood with China, the ministry hasn�t denied it also.�
Meanwhile, though the overall flood situation in Assam has shown improvement, the death toll in the current wave of floods has gone up to 71. So far this year, 155 people lost their lives in two waves of floods. As many as 84 people died in the first wave of floods from March 31 to end of July, while 71 people lost their lives in the current wave of floods from August 10.
The official flood bulletin released this evening said that the number of affected districts has come down to eleven. However, the river Brahmaputra is still flowing above the danger level at Neamatighat and Dhubri, while the Dhansiri (South) is flowing above the danger level at Numaligarh.
The bulletin said that more than 6.72 lakh people of 770 villages under 27 revenue circles are still reeling under floodwaters.
