GUWAHATI, July 16: The flood situation in Assam improved gradually even as over 5 lakh people in 17 districts are still reeling under the deluge, official sources said on Tuesday.
Union home minister Amit Shah telephoned chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to enquire about the situation, reiterating assurance of all help from the Centre, while Sarma also received a call from his Odisha counterpart offering use of the eastern state’s disaster management system to mitigate the challenges.
Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Monday and apprised him of the flood situation, a Raj Bhavan source said here.
The Prime Minister said that the Centre is with the state government to deal with the situation and empower the state in mitigating the impact of flood.
Modi also assured the governor of his support and assistance in helping the state government in carrying out the rehabilitation work, the source added.
They said over 5,11,000 people remained affected by floods in Cachar, Kamrup, Dhubri, Morigaon, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Goalpara, Karimganj, Sivsagar, Dhemaji, Nalbari, Darrang, Kamrup Metropolitan, Biswanath, Jorhat and Majuli.
The number of affected population was 5.97 lakh in 17 districts on Sunday.
Cachar remained the worst hit with over 1.08 lakh people reeling under the deluge, followed by Dhubri with 81,000 affected population and Nagaon with more than 76,000.
More than 100 relief camps are sheltering nearly 25,000 displaced people, while about 4,000 people are being catered to by 12 relief distribution centres.
The toll in this year’s flood, lightning and storm is at 112, with three deaths reported on Monday.
Some of the major rivers continued to flow over the danger level, including the Brahmaputra at Nematighat, Tezpur and Dhubri.
The Burhidihing was also above the red mark at Khowang and Disang at Nanglamuraghat.
Sarma, in a post on X on Monday, said he briefed the Union Home minister about the flood situation, while also thanking the Centre for continued cooperation.
Shah reiterated “augmenting all possible assistance from the Government of India to help the state deal with the situation”, the CM said.
Odisha CM Mohan Majhi also enquired about the situation over phone from Sarma and offered the capabilities of his state’s disaster management system to help mitigate the challenges posed by the floods.
“On behalf of the people of Assam, I have conveyed our heartfelt gratitude for his concern. We agreed to remain in touch in case we require any such assistance,” the Assam CM posted on the micro-blogging site. (PTI)
