Sonowal urges PM to deal with Assam floods as national problem

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged him to bail out the state from recurring floods and erosion that have crippled its people and economy.
Sonowal sought the Prime Minister's help to deal with the situation created by the recent waves of floods and urged him to deal with it as a national problem, a release issued by the Chief Minister's Office here said.
Assam has as many as 1,250 river embankments covering a distance of around 5,000 KM, which were built 30 to 50 years ago to save the rural populace and rural economy from recurring floods and most of the embankments have outlived their utility and need immediate repairing.

Sonowal sought Modi's help in strengthening the embankments as "a strong network of embankments and dykes" were prerequisites for the state's economy to flourish.
The Chief Minister made a plea to Modi for a special incentive to pave way for industrial growth in the state taking into consideration its locational disadvantage.
He also informed that after BJP came to power in Assam, several business houses and entrepreneurs have shown interests in investing in the state and a special incentive would catapult the industrial growth.
Referring to the ongoing NRC updation process in Assam, Sonowal said 68 lakh families have applied for it and the state government has submitted a revised estimate of Rs 882.61 crore for the exercise and requested the Prime Minister to accord early sanction of the amount.

On the Indo-Bangla fencing issue, Sonowal apprised the Prime Minister that of the 280 KM Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam sector, around 71 KM was still unfenced, of which around 60 KM falls in the riverine stretch of the Brahmaputra. He urged that the construction work of fencing be handed over to to the Army as was done along the Indo-Pak border in the Jammu and Kashmir sector.