Flood situation in Assam 'grim', 26 deaths in a week: Rajnath

Guwahati, July 30 (ANI): Asserting that the situation in flood-hit Assam was quite grim, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in the state of an official visit to take stock of the situation, said here on Friday have 26 deaths have been reported in a week, almost 28 districts and around 36 to 37 lakh people have been affected. Addressing the media here after chairing a high-level meeting, the Home Minister lauded the state government, especially the efforts of Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal for trying to normalise the situation. "Since the past one week, Assam bad been badly affected by floods. I came here to take stock of the situation and we surveyed some areas as well. Chief Minister Sonowal and Dr. Jitendra Singh were also with me. I could not have imagined that the condition in Assam was this bad. We have spoken to some authorities as well and after hearing them out, I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a crisis situation," Rajnath said. "I have been informed that around 26 people have lost their lives in the flood in a week. More than 28 districts and almost 36 to 37 lakh people have been affected," he added. Lauding the efforts of the NDRF and the Indian Army for consistently working to save lives of people in the flood-hit areas, Rajnath said that at present 60 boats of the NDRF are working in the service of the people. He also announced that the Centre has announced Rupees 620 crores as aid for Assam and that the state government has declared a compensation of Rs. four lakh to the victims. "All the MLAs have been asked to go to the worst hit areas by suspending the assembly. Declaring the situation as a natural calamity is not a solution, a long term action plan should be drafted to stay prepared," Rajnath said. Earlier today, Rajnath made an aerial survey of flood-affected areas of Nagaon, Morigaon and Kaziranga in Assam. The rise in the water level of the Brahmaputra River has made the condition of Assam very critical and many districts have been submerged. The flood situation in Assam worsened as new areas have been inundated. The affected districts are Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Biswanath, Kamrup Metropolitan, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup and South Kamrup. Over 15 lakh people were affected in 19 districts in the current flood. As per reports, the administration has rescued all affected families as surging water breached Bongaon embankment at Majuli River Island in Jorhat. All the rescued people have been provided shelter in embankments. (ANI)