Assam gears up to tackle floods

As monsoon sets in, the Assam government has directed the concerned officials to complete repair work of various dykes and embankments on war footing. Floods have been a perennial source of sorrow for Assam.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had a meeting with concerned officials yesterday to review preparedness to deal with possible floods, an official press release informed.

He has asked the officials to repair the damaged roads and timber bridges in the flood ravaged areas at the earliest, besides repairing the Matmora dyke in Dhakuakhana, Bohori dyke in Barpeta and the Beki dyke in Mathanguri.

The state government, as a precautionary measure, has decided to procure five bailey bridges in addition to the existing three.

The districts which face floods every year have been asked to keep in stand-by adequate number of country boats.

At present, 35,000 MT of food stuff is stocked by the FCI and the supply department has made an appeal to the centre requesting supply of 25,000 MT rice and additional supply of 15,000 litre kerosene per month, the release added.