DIBRUGARH, June 22 � �Both the Centre as well as our own State Government have paid mere lip service to the serious and alarming flood and erosion problems of Assam,� said AGP general secretary Sarbananda Sonowal today. He said it was a matter of regret that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is yet to take the required initiatives to mitigate the flood and erosion situation in the State.
He said it was worse that the State�s Water Resources Minister, Prithibi Majhi was trying to make light of the erosion problem in Assam by issuing ridiculous statements. �For a person who has been a Rajya Sabha MP, then Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly and then a senior Cabinet colleague of the present Chief Minister, Prithibi Majhi�s off- the- cuff remarks on erosion have deeply hurt the sentiments of lakhs of erosion-hit people of Assam,� Sonowal said.
Majhi was recently telling a few reporters here that AGP and BJP leaders espoused the erosion issue just to hog media space. He has also been making contradictory statements on the erosion situation in the Dibrugarh district, raising many an eyebrow here. His statements also went on to prove that the State Water Resources Minister is confused on how to deal with massive erosion and flooding in the State this year.
Sonowal also came down heavily on Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, for his remarks like �floods and erosion happen everywhere, including America� on various occasions. According to Sonowal, it was because of statements like these from Assam�s leaders that the Centre did not treat the erosion problem in the State seriously. He visited the Hatighuli area in Tinsukia district last Saturday, which is being affected by erosion, and came to the conclusion that works worth Rs 57 crore in the area went down the drain, and termed it a blatant misuse of public money. The works in that place included placement of pre-stressed concrete porcupines, and laying of silt-filled cement bags to create a barrier.
Today, Sonowal has sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister by fax, calling upon the latter to immediately take urgent steps to tackle the flood and erosion problem in Assam, and to create a Brahmaputra Valley Authority for a multi-pronged strategy to harness the Brahmaputra and use the river to the advantage of the people. He said the Centre could take the examples of the river taming exercises in the USA and China and adopt these technologies to suit Indian conditions and requirements. �It is imperative for the Centre to treat the flood and erosion problem of Assam as a national issue. If matters relating to the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari and Cauvery can be national issues, so should it be in the case of Brahmaputra too,� Sonowal said.
