NEW DELHI, Dec 23: It is again bad news for Assam with the Central Government drastically slashing down its demand for assistance of Rs 1,134.45 crore to Rs 70 crore for relief and restoration work in the wake of floods this year. In a written reply to a question tabled in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Swami Chinmayanand said that Government of Assam had submitted a memorandum seeking assistance for relief and restoration measures for various sectors, including infrastructure, in the wake of floods this year. The high level committee that met in October to consider the demands of the State, recommended an assistance of Rs 70.72 crore for flood relief measures to Assam.
However, the Government of Assam had a balance of Rs 158.61 crore available in the corpus from Calamity Relief Fund and due to this adequate availability of funds, no additional assistance from National Calamity Contingency Fund was required to be released, he added
Meanwhile in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Water Resources Bijoya Chakravarty claimed that inter-linking of rivers under National Perspective Plan (NPP) prepared by Central Government that envisages construction of storage dams would reduce the severity of floods and flood damages considerably.
Preliminary studies done by National Water Development Agency (NWDA), the flood peaks are estimated to be reduced by about 20-30% in Brahmaputra basin, she said. Under the NPP, Manas-Sankosh-Tista-Ganga link project has been identified for preparation of feasibility report. According to the preliminary studies done by NWDA, irrigation benefits to the extent of 2.08 lakh hectare to Assam State in the districts of Goalpar, Dhubri, Kokrajhar and Barpeta are envisaged under the link.