"Jal Shakti Department is being used like an ATM, BJP doesn't want permanent solution": Congress MP Gogoi on Assam floods

Jul 04, 2024

Dibrugarh (Assam) [India], July 4 : Amid a disastrous situation in Assam due to floods, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday alleged that the BJP government is repeatedly giving embankment projects to the same contractors who have built faulty embankments.
"I had said that it is a matter of great concern, I am very concerned and I think the central government should also be concerned. I am aware that Prime Minister Modi talked to the Chief Minister, but I am worried about whether the Chief Minister himself knows the real truth or not. For the last 10 years, we have been seeing that the Jal Shakti Department of the BJP government is repeatedly giving embankment projects to contractors who build broken embankments or are not able to do their work properly while building embankments, but even after that, the same contractor gets work again and again," Gogoi said.
He also mentioned that the BJP actually does not want a long-term and permanent solution.
"Jal Shakti Department is being used like an ATM here. That is why I said in my speech that the Water Minister from the Centre should come and see how much money is being looted through embankment during the floods in Assam," the Congress MP added.
Assam Minister Atul Bora today visited flood flood-affected Morigaon district on Thursday, where over 190 villages remain affected. He also interacted with the flood-affected people who are now taking shelter on the embankment in the Bhuragaon area in the Morigaon district.
Assam Minister Atul Bora told ANI, "The water level of Brahmaputra river is receding in Morigaon district, but the flood situation is still grim. Three people have died here."
"As instructed by the Assam Chief Minister I come to Morigaon to take stock of the flood situation. The situation is still grave. 28 districts of the state have been affected by this flood. Yesterday, we had a meeting of the state Cabinet headed by the Chief Minister and the CM instructed us to visit the flood-affected Morigaon and Nagaon districts," he said.
The Assam Minister also mentioned that till today 55,459 people of the district have been affected by the deluge and 194 villages have been affected.
"In Morigaon district, the flood waters submerged 12,963 hectares of crop area. Rs 381 crore was released to the farmers under PM Kishan Sanman Nidhi scheme's 17th installment. I asked the district administration to offer their helping hands to the flood-affected people. Our government will provide relief materials to the affected," he added.