Assam CM seeks enhanced assistance for people hit by calamities

New Delhi, June 15 (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday sought enhanced assistance to the people affected by natural calamities like floods, which hit the state every year.

Addressing the 5th governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog here, he raised key issues pertinent to the state’s development and underlined the future roadmap for state and central government’s partnership.

He stressed on the need for effective management of flood and erosion problems afflicting a large part of Assam every year, a state government release said.

Sonowal pointed out that the norms of relief and rehabilitation provided to the flood-affected people according to Disaster Relief Fund guidelines are low and sought its increase substantially.

He also vouched for NITI Aayog’s intervention to include river erosion in the admissible list of calamities for funding under National Disaster Relief Fund or State Disaster Relief Fund so that quick and timely steps can be taken to counter erosion.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for setting up a high-level committee for proper management of water resources in the Northeastern region under the chairmanship Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, Sonowal said suggestions made in the draft report of the committee would go a long way in finding a permanent solution to the problems of flood and erosion in Assam.

The chief minister also informed that the state government had made remarkable progress in addressing the needs of the seven selected districts of the state and an amount of Rs 28 crore had been kept in state budget of current financial year for taking up new activities in those districts.

He said in order to achieve Prime Minister Modi’s target of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022 in the state, satisfactory results were showed by the ‘Chief Minister’s Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana’ that was launched by the state government in 2017.