Bihar and Assam : A Tale of Two Floods

As I write this post, the flood situation in Bihar is seeing marked improvement. And our national media, which did a commendable job of highlighting the gravity of the Bihar floods, is now shifting focus to "even graver " issues like the Big Bang experiment and the resulting Doom that will befall on our planet. (also commendable is the effort to provide comedy by the news readers who talk about some dark holes, oops black holes !!). In all these brouhaha, it was entirely forgotten that similar to Bihar, nearby Assam is also being ravaged by equally destructive floods. Dozens of special reports were aired on Kosi flood victims, but the Assam floods found no mention, nowhere, though the situation has remained very critical there.

Such negligence is nothing new. It is well-known how national media avoids North-East like the plague, often citing logistics as the lame excuse. But lack of national exposure should not be a factor in getting flood relief, when the incumbent party also rules in Centre and especially when the PM is elected from the same state. Unfortunately, that is what happened. The Assam CM has shown little concern towards the plight of his fellow people, but urged them to contribute towards the Bihar flood funds !! Pathetic as it may sound, but true. He boasts of a 700 cr flood relief fund at hand, which only shows his stupidity, given the grave situation in all 27 districts of Assam. Even the utilization of the available funds would have made a difference, but that was not be the case thanks to his callous attitude. The four MPs of the state have also continued their vow of silence in the parliament, not bothering to voice about the plight of the people back home.

Same can be said of our PM, whose heart seems to tilt more towards Bihar. He was very prompt in air-surveying Bihar flood situation, but could not find time to do the same in case of the worst affected Majuli district in Assam, despite early promises. He preferred to review it from the comforts of an AC room , through LCD projectors !! This empathy comes from a man who calls Assam his adopted home, being elected to RS three times from the state. He requested the nation to help Bihar flood victims and also announced a thousand crore flood relief package, but forgot that his adopted state is also reeling under similar floods. During his tenure, Assam has been victim of four destructive floods, though he never made any such public request on behalf of Assam. The government and private companies are also joining the Bihar flood relief queue, donating handsomely to the cause. These include many companies like ONGC, who generates a lot of revenue from Assam, but never showed such magnanimity during previous Assam floods. It is the same story with Assam Rifles, Railways and other Central government organizations.

This grim story is being repeated every year in Assam, with the onset of monsoon. Even before rehabilitation of victims of one flood is complete, the havoc of the next flood sets in. And it will continue to remain same, unless some sincere and urgent measures are taken to tame the rivers.