GUWAHATI, June 8 – At a time when the Assam Government is demanding declaration of floods and erosion in the State as a national problem, more than 30 flood and erosion protection schemes are pending at various stages of completion because of the failure of the Centre to release funds. State Water Resources Department sources told The Assam Tribune that 37 major schemes are at various stages of implementation, as the Central Government has not released funds for completion of the same. Sources said that the major schemes that could not be completed due to paucity of funds include the Palasbari town protection scheme, Neamati-Hatisal scheme, Howlighat-Mukalmua scheme, Hatsingimari protection scheme etc.
Commenting on the funding pattern for flood management schemes, sources revealed that since 1974, the Central Government had been providing loan assistance for implementing such schemes, which was repayable with interest. But after the Government of Assam started pressing for grants for taking up flood control schemes, the Central Government announced its decision to provide grants from 1999 but because of the delay in completing the necessary formalities, the money has not yet been released and in the meantime, the Central Loan Assistance was also stopped, which complicated matters for the State. Though the Centre also promised to provide ad-hoc grant till the completion of the formalities, that promise has also not been fulfilled.
Though proposals for more than 50 schemes worth more than Rs 200 crore are pending with the Central Government, the EFC approved only Rs 90 crore for the 10th Five Year Plan, of which, Rs 9 crore would have to be paid by the State Government. The same is now pending approval of the Planning Commission, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Prime Minister. The State Government is hopeful of getting the same cleared soon with Dr Manmohan Singh, a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, taking over as the Prime Minister. The State Government, in the meantime, is pressing the Planning Commission for early clearance of the funds promised so that the flood management schemes can be completed to give relief to the people of the flood-affected areas of Assam.
Sources revealed that the Planning Commission provided an ad hoc financial assistance of Rs 16 crore against 17 schemes in the last financial year following repeated requests of the State Government. Meanwhile, the Central Government’s decision to change the funding pattern of the Non Lapsable Pool of Central Funds also seriously affected implementation of flood management schemes. Sources said that with the change in the funding pattern, only the schemes worth more than Rs 3 crore would be funded from the Pool and 32 schemes completed with an expenditure of Rs 29 crore in expectation of the funds from the Pool now become a liability for the Water Resources Department. The State Government has taken up the matter with the Department for Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER) to amend the norms of releasing funds from the Central Pool so that schemes costing less than Rs 3 crore can also be implemented with the Central Pool fund. With PR Kyndiah, a senior political leader from the north eastern region taking over the reigns of the DONER, the State Government is hopeful of a sympathetic attitude towards the demand as the new DONER Minister is well versed in the problems facing the region.
It may be mentioned here that under the present financial position of the State Government, it is impossible to take up major flood control schemes without help from the Central Government and though the State Government and various other organisations of Assam have been demanding that the Centre should treat flood in Assam as a national problem, the same has not yet been done. The Assam Legislative Assembly also passed a resolution demanding that floods should be treated as a national problem and a copy of the resolution was also forwarded to the Centre. Now it remains to be seen whether the new Prime Minister takes a positive step in this regard to provide relief to the people of the flood-affected people of Assam.