Union home minister and chairperson of North Eastern Council (NEC), Amit Shah, on October 7 asserted that Assam must come up with a long-term plan which would provide protection from floods for decades to come.
He made this remark during a review meeting chaired by him in Guwahati to make the state of Assam flood-free. The meeting was attended by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and senior officials of the state government.
The Union home minister emphasized that if Assam is to develop further and attract significant private investment, then protection from floods is a key requirement.
“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. 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,” Amit Shah said.
Amit Shah 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 Amit Shah also said that a meeting with the ministry of jal shakti, power 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 the state water resource department and ASDMA, Amit Shah requested that apart from utilizing the services of 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.
The home minister, who is on a three-day visit to the state, will on October 8 chair a regional meeting on ‘drug trafficking and national security’ in Assam to discuss the drug scenario in the Northeast region and ways to mitigate it.
