Centre faces questions over BJP's pre-poll promise to make Assam flood-free

“When will the BJP government make Assam flood-free?” Social media is abuzz with this question as Assam faces one of the worst floods.

Before the Assembly elections in the state in March-April 2021, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had asked the voters to elect the Bharatiya Janata Party again with a promise to make the state flood-free.

The Himanta Biswa Sarma government, since then, is yet to talk about the promise—which included digging big canals and diverting flood waters into them. The opposing parties are now questioning the Centre about BJP’s poll promise—made to the voters since 2014—to address the annual problem of floods in Assam.

The parties in opposition alleged that it was nothing but another jumla (false promise) by Narendra Modi government as the Centre has not taken any major step to fulfil its promise made before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, and the 2016 state assembly elections, to address the flood problem.

Also read | Non-performance of Cong took country backwards: Assam CM

“In the Vision Document before the 2016 Assembly elections, the BJP promised about several schemes including dredging of the Brahmaputra and the Barak rivers to reduce the impact of flood. Nothing has been done in the past six years to implement those promises,” Debabrat Saikia, leader of Congress legislature party in Assam said in a letter to PM Modi on Monday.

Since April this year, floods in Assam have claimed 79 lives, while over 42 lakh people remained affected in 33 of the state’s 36 districts. With no relief in sight, blame game among political parties has intensified. “PM Modi comes to Assam several times before the elections. Why is he not coming now to take stock of the flood situation?" asked a member of the new regional party Asom Jatiya Parishad.

Modi talked on Thursday to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the phone assuring all assistance to the state government to tackle the flood situation.

All India United Democratic Front’s Badaruddin Ajmal, a Lok Sabha member from Dhubri, one of the flood-prone constituencies, alleged that the Centre has done nothing to declare Assam flood as a national calamity to address its impact. "I have raised this matter in the Parliament not less than 30 times. Instead of making impractical promises (flood-free), the Centre should declare it as a national calamity in order to pump in more funds and expertise to reduce impact on life and livelihoods," Ajmal had said on Saturday, after distributing relief materials among the flood-hit people.

A BJP leader in Assam, however, said that the Centre has taken steps for satellite mapping of the water bodies in Assam for diversion of flood water. Chief minister Sarma said the work was in progress to strengthen the embankments in order to reduce the impact of floods.

According to experts, however, instead of banking on the age-old practice of raising and strengthening the embankments, the government must take up a comprehensive project for soil conservation and address the root of the problem that is caused by massive destruction of hills and forests.

“Massive soil conservation program for restoration and conservation of denuded watershed areas by bio-engineering and other means will control flood to a large extent. It should be supported by low-cost river channel improvements using advanced Stream Energy Harnessing techniques. The embankments should be made breach-proof by using the latest robust advanced technology such as Articulating Concrete Block Mattress,” Nayan Sharma, who is an adjunct professor at IIT Roorkee, told DH