Protection from floods key to private investment in Assam

Union Minister for Home and Cooperation and Chairman, North Eastern Council (NEC), Amit Shah has made it clear to Assam that if it wants to develop further and attract significant private investment, protection from floods is a key requirement.

He said this in a meeting in Guwahati yesterday which discussed about making Assam
flood free .

The meeting was attended by Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister, Assam and senior officials of the Government of Assam.

He stated that the State must come up with a long term plan which would provide protection from floods for decades to come and not to look at short term measures alone.

In fact there has been no significant investment in flood control from the 1970s till 2010. Investment in flood control through raising and strengthening of embankment refocused since 2017-18 only. While 4500 kms of embankment were constructed during 50s and 60s, no storage reservoirs were constructed.

Amit Shah stressed that the Assam government should come up with a concrete action plan to protect and rejuvenate the wetlands in the State and increase their holding capacity so that they can also act as storage reservoirs during floods.

He emphasized that the State must take all steps in this regard including enacting a law for protection of reservoirs and a mechanism for enforcement of the same.

Union Home Minister also said that a meeting with the Ministry of Jal Shakti, power ministry and the State Government will soon be convened to look at measures to include more flood moderation storage reservoirs along with Hydro Projects in Arunachal Pradesh etc. to mitigate floods in the State.

For developing the capacity of State Water Resource Department and Assam State Disaster Management Authority,
Shah requested that apart from utilizing the services of North Eastern Space Applications Centre( NESAC), with which the State Government has entered into an MoU for developing flood forecasting and early warning systems, the State and NESAC should also look at involving National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in capacity building of state agencies as well.

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