Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi here on Tuesday asked for inclusion of neighbouring countries of China, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh into proposed North East Water Resources Authority while regretting the role of Arunachal Pradesh opposing the concept aimed at to mitigate the impact of rivers on the region.
Admitting that Assam was facing one of the worst floods, Mr Gogoi told reporters that to mitigate the impact of the floods a long term strategy as suggested by experts for setting up NEWRA was necessary but frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh was opposing it. “I would like to appeal Arunachal Pradesh once again to rethink their stand,” said Mr Gogoi while asserting that they would also be loser if such an authority is not set up.
Mr Gogoi also claimed to have achieved a major relief for the state as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to acknowledge the erosion into list of disaster.
He said that the Prime Minister has promised to look into the issue of declaring erosion as a national disaster like flood and drought.
“The Prime Minister has assured the state cabinet on Monday that he will propose inclusion of erosion in the list of national disasters. Now, with central assistance, we can provide all help to people affected by erosion,” Mr Gogoi said.
“While flood is a temporary phenomenon, the problem of erosion has long-term implications,” he said adding that state has already lost more than 4.5 lakh hectares of land in erosion which he wish to reclaim.
Assam has also sought central assistance to the tune of Rs 11,316 crore for immediate and mid-term measures for flood control and relief and rescue.
Mr Gogoi also asked the central government to make the India Meteor-ological Depart-ment (IMD) more effective and for installation of an early warning system for flood in the region. “We also want the Central Water Commission to set up a regional office in Assam so that we do not have to keep on approaching New Delhi every time for weather and flood warning,” said Mr Gogoi.