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One-third of Assam population affected by floods since April: CM Himanta Sarma
The Assam floods have claimed 195 lives since April while 37 others are still missing and have affected over 8.9 million people in the state
The two waves of floods in Assam since April have claimed 195 lives, while 37 others are still missing, and affected one-third of the state’s population, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Guwahati on Saturday.
“The number of deaths, which includes 19 deaths in landslides, is one of the biggest human casualties due to floods in the state’s history. Since April, floods have affected over 8.9 million people, which is nearly one-third of the state’s population,” Sarma said.
To date, 34 of the state’s 35 districts have been affected by floods, according to government data. It includes 152 revenue circles and 9,918 villages. A total of 54,837 domestic animals have died in floods and crop area of 240,096 hectares have been submerged by flood waters.
“This year, 742,250 affected persons took shelter in relief camps—this is the highest figure in many years. Due to the scale of the disaster, NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) teams had to evacuate 98,509 persons marooned by floods,” said Sarma.
The chief minister said that the government has provided ₹4 lakh each to families of all those who lost lives in floods and landslides.
“As per our records, 189,752 families affected by floods were in relief camps. From this year we have started a new initiative and decided to give ₹3,800 each to these families to procure household goods. Till date, 181,859 families have received the amounts in their bank accounts,” said Sarma.
“Another initiative is to provide ₹1,000 each to 101,539 students affected by floods in 30 districts to help them buy text books. By August 15, students who lost text books will also be provided the books in their schools,” he added.
Sarma said that assessment is underway to get details of houses fully and partially damaged due to floods. Till date, 25,670 houses have been found to be fully damaged and another 278,260 damaged partially.
“The assessment will continue till July 20 after which ministers and officials will conduct surveys in affected districts to verify the claims. By mid-August we should be able to provide grants to affected people to rebuild their houses,” he said.
The chief minister said that this will be followed by assessment of damage to infrastructure like embankments, roads and bridges, which will be completed by mid-September. The damage to infrastructure is expected to be around ₹1,000 crore.
“Floods in Assam this year have been declared a severe natural calamity by the central government and because of that we expect to get 90% of the amount needed for infrastructure repair and other expenses from the Centre,” he said.
