Nearly half of Assam is facing devastation due to severe floods these days. Almost twenty districts are under floods, most affected being Lakhimpur and Salmara. So far nearly three dozen persons have died in landslides or by drowning. Many highways in the state have been damaged and road link to Manipur is cut off from rest of the country. There are other places too in the North East region facing floods. Besides loss of lives and livelihoods the floods have also caused danger to wildlife and forests, particularly the lives of endangered rhinos in Kaziranga are badly affected. These floods have become a perennial phenomenon owing to governmental policies of neglect and apathy, it is high time that the governments in Assam and in centre stop issuing statements and paying lip service and take up substantial steps to help the millions of affected citizens in Assam. This is more a man-made calamity than a natural disaster and the government must declare this a calamity of national proportion and release special funds from the centre to help the victims as well as to avoid any such recurrence in the next year or anytime in future.
