As Assam flood continues to ravage the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of persons who lost their lives in the flood.
“PM @narendramodi has sanctioned ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of persons who lost their lives due to floods in Assam from the PM National Relief Fund,” Modi tweeted from his PMO Twitter handle.
Earlier in the day, he spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal and reviewed the current situation after the heavy rain and resultant flood. HE also assured Sonowal of all central assistance.
The flood in Assam has claimed 33 live so far, besides affecting around 15 lakh people in 21 of the state”s 33 districts, officials said.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) officials had earlier said that 18 persons have died in Dhubri, Nagaon, Nalbari, Barpeta, Dhemaji, Udalguri, Goalpara and Dibrugarh districts in the flood since early last week, taking the state”s death toll to 33, while 24 others were killed in landslides since May 22.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high level meeting on Friday to review preparedness of measures to deal with monsoon and flood situation in major flood-prone river basins in the country. This meeting comes in the wake of Assam experiencing devastating floods that has left 33 dead so far.
While Shah asked officials to focus on better coordination between agencies to have a permanent system for forecasting of floods and rise in water levels in major catchment zones/areas of the country, he also asked for permanent solutions to the perennial flood problem in areas like that of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and North Eastern states.
Shah also directed the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Central Water Commission (CWC) to review and assess data on real storage capacity of major dams with a view to ensure timely release of water and prevention of floods.
Senior officials of the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation were present in the meeting as were officials of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The government, in a statement said, “The decisions taken in the meeting will go a long way to mitigate the sufferings of lakhs of people in the country who have to face the fury of floods in terms of damage to their crops, property, livelihood and precious lives.”
A total of 40 million hectares area in India is prone to floods in which Ganga and Brahmaputra are main flood basins and Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are most flood-prone states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal regarding the flood situation in the state.
