Adil Hussain wants long-term solution to tame Assam floods

Actor Adil Hussain, who hails from Assam, wants to be the "emotional drive" to motivate his home state government to take long-term measures for controlling the flood situation in the northeastern state.

According to reports from Assam, the areas affected by this year's flood spread across districts like Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Bongaigaon, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Goalpara, Dhubri, Darrang, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Kokrajhar, Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Nagaon and Karbi Anglong. A lot of people as well as wildlife have been affected.

The "Life of Pi" actor is deeply concerned about the people who have to suffer every year because of the floods.

"A lot of people of Assam have lost trust in the government and the administration. So, I just had a long chat with Papon (popular singer from Assam). We both feel deeply connected to Assam and we want to do something for the long term," Adil, who is from Goalpara and now based in Delhi, told IANS.

"I think the way Papon and I looked at it... The emotional drive that we feel for the people in Assam, even though I don't live there. I visit Assam every year as my entire family lives there apart from my wife and kid.

"It's devastating to see how they suffer. So, (it would be great) if we can be the emotional drive for the government so that the government feels 'Okay, everyone is talking about this problem so, let's go for it'."

He believes that the BJP-led government in Assam has the intention to look into the problem, but now is the time to take steps.

Adil feels that providing relief material is okay, but these are just "ad hoc solutions".

"It is the 21st century, so how is it not possible to have technology and civil engineering capacity to manage the (river) Brahmaputra? When I say managing Brahmaputra, I am not saying to dominate a river because you cannot. But to manage it well so that people don't get into this kind of disastrous situation year after year.

"We are trying to find out who are the people in the field...the experts who can help us out to conceptualise the long-term solution, to study the weather pattern, and how much the river bed has risen... All that have to be figured out."

Has he approached more celebrities?

"We don't want to pull people unless they want to join us (he and Papon). Anybody who is concerned about the situation in Assam is most welcome," he said.

--IANS

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