Around 26 lakh people have been affected in 26 districts in Assam from the twin floods. (AFP)
Guwahati:
Dimbeshwar Das of Koilajhari village in Assam's flood-ravaged Morigaon district, about 150 km away from Guwahati, has been living on the village road for more than a month after the second wave of floods displaced him. The second flood wave isn't allowing the 47-year-old to return home, which may have been destroyed.
"I have been living this way for a month, after the first wave of floods. When the water dried out, I tried going back, but the second wave arrived and I am back here, living on the roads," Dimbeshwar Das said.
Morigaon has been completely ravaged by twin floods. It received Rs 1.62 crore after the first wave of floods and Rs 1.12 crore after the second wave. The authorities are finding it extremely difficult to reach out despite the release of the funds.
"The twin floods have completely destroyed the economy of the district and it will take time to recover. For now, our focus is rescue and relief," Mr Hemen Das, Deputy Commissioner, Morigaon told NDTV.
Morigaon is not alone in being affected by the floods or in getting flood relief.
The first flood itself left 84 people dead and about 26 lakh people affected in 26 districts of Assam.
Even after getting adequate funds for flood rescue and relief, the state government is finding it very difficult to cope with the massive inundation, destruction and deaths that the two floods have caused in the past two months.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a financial package of Rs 2,350 crore for Assam and the rest of the North East.
In spite of receiving the lion's share of the financial package, the Assam government has reportedly spent only Rs 60.71 crore in floods rescue and relief operation in the past two months, until last week.
And only funds aren't proving to be enough to give relief to those affected by the floods. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is carrying out operations with only 50 rubber boats. The state government has engaged another 200 boats, but they are too little to cater to the vast areas of the state that are marooned.