Assam Flood Fury kills 6 rhinos, 95 deers: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Sarma said, "If the flood is declared a national problem, how will it benefit us? Rather foreigners will stop coming here when they find it out."

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today stated that a total of six rhinoceros and 95 deer died by drowning amidst the raging floods that have hit the state so far.

While speaking to the media, CM Sarma talked of the overall flood scenario in the state and talked of the fatalities of animals in the Kaziranga National Park which has been hit hard by floods this year.

He also stated that 72 revenue circles in the state are affected by floods.

The Assam CM gave out the details while visiting the flood-hit Palasbari constituency in the state today to take stock of things.

CM Sarma also visited the relief camps in the area during the visit.

Noteworthy is that the flood situation continues to be grim in Assam with 29 of the total 35 districts affected by the deluge. A total of over 23.96 lakh people are still affected by the floods in the state with more than 53,000 taking shelter in relief camps. Teams of NDRF are deployed at Cachar, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Dibrugarh and Jorhat.

While the Brahmaputra is flowing above danger level in Jorhat, Tezpur and Dhubri, Burhidihing in Dibrugarh, Dikhou in Sivasagar, Kushiyara in Karimganj are also flowing above the danger level.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that he is making all out efforts to see that there is a national solution to the flood issue, instead of the calamity being declared as a national problem.

Sarma said, “If the flood is declared a national problem, how will it benefit us? Rather foreigners will stop coming here when they find it out.”

“Our focus is on finding a solution. We will benefit if some national solution is there,” he added.

Sarma said damage to embankments has been much less this time compared to previous years.

“There has not been much flooding near embankments this time, the problem is on the riverside. In 2004, 300-400 embankments had breached, this time it is about two-three,” he claimed.

He said work on different embankments is already in progress and the Centre will be providing more funds to undertake such projects, as necessary.

“The Centre has given Rs 13,000 crore to us this year in advance. We have not spent much of the money so far,” Sarma said, maintaining the state government has adequate funds.

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