ABDUL KALAM AZAD, Guwahati 8 July:
Assam is one of the most flood prone states in India. Every year, flood water inundates hundred and thousands villages across Brahmaputra and Barak valley of the state. This year too flood has stroked badly in Brahmaputra valley. Assam State Disaster Management Authority’s daily flood report on 6th June, 2016 said that 1,19,339 people had been affected by the recent flood in Assam. 293 villages spread over 12 revenue circles in 7 districts had been declared as flood affected areas. The report said that more than 7122 hect crop area has been affected. Government has set up 50 relief distribution centre in four districts i.e. Biswanath (3), Nagaon (1), Golaghat (29) and Jorhat (17) and distributed 826 quintal rice, 121 quintal pulse, 26 quintal salt, 2.25 quintal chira and 45 KG gur.
As per the said daily report of ASDMA, no response was provided to worst affected Lakhimpur district and other two districts i.e.Dhemaji and Morigaon. No rescue operation was initiated by the disaster management authority of district administration in any affected districts.
Moreover, the data of flood affected people and area published by ASDMA seems to be highly conservative. In fact, they didn’t cover many flood affected areas at all. On 5th and 6th June 2016, we were assessing the flood situation in char villages under Chenga revenue circle in Barpeta districts of Assam. At least 10 villages under Guma and Dakshin Dudhani Gaon Panchayats were severely affected by flood and erosion. A char village called Koltoli near Bahari has washed away and people are taking shelter under tents on roadsides. Around 100 families are living in a miserable condition without any support from government or any other agencies. The situation in char villages is also not better than the roadside shelter. The villagers in Lakhipur char are literally stranded in their inundated houses without access to basic needs like food, water and toilet. Dhamapara char is another badly affected char village in the area. In Dhamapara, we distributed one hundred food packets (rice and other essential commodities like pulse, salt, soap, biscuit, milk etc) sponsored by IMRC Sahayara Trust. The villagers were struggling to harvest their half ripen aayush rice from the submerged fields. Uttar Gudhani, one of the most backward char villages in Assam has been affected by this recent flood. As per 2011 census data the village has lowest literacy rate (7%) in the state. Other char villages in the area like Marichakandi, Tarabari, Haifsa, Duburir Char, Chandanpur, Aarimari, Kakduwa etc are severely affected in the recent flood. In these 10 char villages around 2500 families or approx 15000 people copping the disaster situation without any government support. In fact, the disaster management authority has not recognized them as affected people.
One of the flood victims Pashu Ali said in utter anguish that perhaps they do not fall under the preview of the government. No government officials or the representative of any political parties visit them other than the election campaign.
In the meantime, the cases of water borne diseases like cold fever, dysentery, diarrhea, scabies etc have been reported. There is no health infrastructure in those char villages. One of the villagers informed us that last time he saw the boat clinic in their char has been more than six months.
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