NEW DELHI, July 12 - Responding to Assam Government?s SOS, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is likely to visit the flood-ravaged State this weekend, even as a high-level technical team on a stock-taking mission headed by Union Water Resources Minister, Priyaranjan Das Munshi is arriving in the State shortly. The devastations caused by floods in Assam and Bihar figured in Lok Sabha today, with agitated members belonging to the two States demanding adequate relief measures and sanction of funds to meet calamity. Arunachal Pradesh also kept up the pressure on Centre with the State Government demanding from Centre an interim relief grant of Rs 100 crore to deal with floods in the State.
The Prime Minister, meanwhile, is likely to land in the State on July 17 on his first tour of the State to review the flood situation in Assam, sources disclosed. The detailed itinerary of Prime Minister?s tour is being worked out and according to tentative schedule he might have an overnight halt in Guwahati before leaving for Bihar.
Meanwhile, responding to Member?s anxiety over the devastating floods, Union MoWR said that he would be heading a technical assistance team drawn from Central Water Commission (CWC) to Assam to take stock of the flood situation in the State. He is likely to arrive in the State on Wednesday. Asserting that the Prime Minister was in touch with the Chief Ministers of Assam and Bihar, Das Munshi said that the CWC has been directed to have 24-hour technical monitoring of the flood situation.
Admitting that the flood situation in Assam and North Bihar was serious, the Minister said the Army had taken up rescue operations. Earlier in the Lok Sabha, Members belonging to Bihar and Assam raised the issue during the Zero Hour demanding permanent solution to the flood problem. Asserting that the flood situation in Assam was grim, Kirip Chaliha claimed that State Government urgently needed seven helicopters, 300 rubber boats, besides relief material and medicines. Pleading that the Minister should immediately visit the State, he said that said that the Centre should have a long-term strategy to solve the flood problem.
Asserting that Assam has over the years repeatedly been facing the fury of floods, he charged that the Brahmaputra Board has become a white elephant. The MPs from Assam had to jostle for time with MPs from Bihar to speak on the issue. While as many as seven MPs from Bihar could speak on the issue, Member?s of Assam were not so fortunate, as most of them were asked to associate.