Cutting across party barriers Congress, BJP and AGP had refused to respond to the Speaker's appeal unless the collected fund was divided between Assam and Bihar.
Congress MP from Assam Kirip Chaliha will not pay any money for flood relief in Bihar. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Monday, Chaliha said he is ready to urge both Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to issue an appeal to help Assam flood victims in the same line.
Chaliha said, “the Assam MPs are unhappy over the fact that Mr Chatterjee has issued an appeal only for Bihar when similar destruction has taken place in Assam also.”.
The MP from Guwahati made it clear that he would not respond to the appeal of the Speaker of donating Rs 25 lakh by each MP from the local area development fund for the flood victims in Bihar.
According to Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) MP Arun Kumar Sarma, ''Assam is also under water like Bihar and I do not think my inner sense will respond to the Speaker's call that Rs 25 lakh from the MP local area development fund should be handed over to Bihar for relief and rehabilitation when there are so many things to be done in Assam,'' said whose constituency is the most flood prone of the region.
BJP MP Rajen Gohain said, he would also follow the suit adding, “'when my own house is under water why and how should we help others? The ruling Congress too has joined the growing chorus.
Meanwhile, AGP MP Sarbananda Sonowal had already wrote it to the Vice-President as well as the Lok Sabha Speaker on the same issue urging them to intervene on behalf of Assam.
PermalinkSubmitted by Juri Gogoi on Wed, 10/09/2008 - 15:54
I fully support the MPs of Assam and agree with the version given by Rajen Gohain that when my own house is under water and in the same condition; how can I even think for the neighbours. Top of that when there is a Bihar state Governement along with the state Assembly, MPs and local MLAs of Bihar and the Central Government to look after the state, why it is focused on specially only the Assam MPs. Will Lalu Prasad yadav will come and help the Assam flood victims?
Yes, on humanity ground, we have no objection if somebody offers any help for the flood victim willingly, in fact we will appreciate.
PermalinkSubmitted by Neelakshi Barua on Wed, 10/09/2008 - 20:15
I have totally failed to understand the hue and cry over the floods in Bihar. While the flood victims have my total sympathy, after all who knows floods better than the axomiyas, I have never seen much noise being made about floods in Assam at any point of time in the past. If any donations have to be made it should be for the Assamese flood affected people first; then only can we turn our attention to other states. Moreover I do not see much reaction from the Centre about the state of the rhinos in Kaziranga affected by the floods. This, after being the only sanctuary where the one horned rhino is found in such abundance in the world.The MPs have every right to refuse to donate and I am glad that they have spoken up so openly about it. Hopefully the Centre will open their eyes and wake up to the situation in Assam.
-- Neelakshi.
PermalinkSubmitted by Indranee Dutta on Thu, 11/09/2008 - 19:56
After a long slumber at last our own MPs have woken up for a cause. I hope they will keep waking till other serious problems of the state are addressed by the Center. Assam needs proactive sensitive, honest, thoughtful and bold leaders, which we are yet to see.
PermalinkSubmitted by Saurav on Mon, 15/09/2008 - 03:05
We, the people of Assam, are to blame for the poor state of affair in our state. We take it for granted that we have to live in the same state as we have been living in the past. Floods come every year yet we do not project this to the whole world. Our projection is not up to the mark. It is not only the "news" that matters, our CM should have been crying at the top of his voice. We are too proud to cry and for ages have been missing on the milk. It is good to see our ministers cutting across party lines to demand for a fair treatment to our flood victims. But it would be more effective if the same press conference is held at Delhi to make their presence felt. This issue has not found place in any of the national news.
There is report of escalating tension in Chirang district following recovery of the bodies and there are reports of minority community protesting on the streets against the death of the three men. Additional reinforcements of police and para military forces have been rushed to the affected areas, where forces are already deployed since the outbreak of Bodo-Muslim clashes in July. Night curfew continues in Kokrajhar and Chirang, which are part of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous Districts, and Dhubri.
After a very brief silence, violence seems to have resurfaced in the BTAD areas. In a yet to string of murder and mayhem, five persons have been killed in Kokrajhar on Sunday. Three bullet riddled bodies were found in Chirang on Sunday. This is apart from two more bodies found in Kokrajhar district. One person is reported missing in the district.
According to Chirang Superintendent of Police, the three - father and his two sons - had left the camp for displaced persons at Kawatika village of Chirang district in the afternoon on Saturday and their bodies were found on Sunday.
The Assam government has set up a group of ministers to oversee and coordinating the relief and rehabilitation measures in the affected districts on his direction.
According to sources, the GoM comprises Revenue Minister Prithibi Majhi as chairperson and comprises Planning and Development Minister Tanka Bahadur Rai, Public Health and Engineering Minister Gautam Roy, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Nazrul Islam, Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain and Transport Minister Chandan Brahma. Agriculture minister Nilamoni Sen Deka will be the Member Secretary of the GoM.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday said that the government is taking steps to ensure best treatment for all inmates, particularly to children and mothers, residing in camps for displaced persons in the violence-hit BTAD areas and Dhubri district Gogoi directed Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with other senior officers of the health department to be present in the affected areas. Gogoi has also instructed that all medical and para-medical staff and medicine requirement may be refurbished by requisitioning from other districts.
The B Barooah College student who went missing on Saturday has been rescued in . New Jalpaiguri on Sunday.According to information, Saidul Islam approached RPF officials in NJ P alleging that a group of miscreants forcibly took away him by train when he was on the way to Panbazar on Saturday afternoon. The N JP . RPF officials then conveyed it to their Guwahati counterpart on Sunday wee hours which was later passed to his Kokrajhar-based parents. A team of Guwahati police is leaving for NJP to bring him back to the city.
A college student has been remaining traceless in Guwahati from Saturday. Identified as Saidul Islam, first year degree student of the B Barooah College went missing from 3 in the afternoon from Panbazar where he went to buy books. Police operation is going on in the city to trace Saidul who hails from Kokrajhar. Panbazar police station has already registered a case and investigation is going on.
Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that altogether 13 refugees died in Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts during the recent violence. Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Dr Sarma said that the department was working in 303 relief camps in the affected districts. According to him, so far blood tests of 8102 refugees have been conducted with over hundred of them testing positive for malaria.
A slew of strategies is in place to counter any effort by ULFA to monger trouble the run-up to Independence Day.Talking to reporters in Guwahati on Saturday, Senior Superintendednt of Police of Kamrup Metro Aditya Prakash Tiwari said that surveillance, pickets have been increased to ensure that the militant groups are not able to disrupt peace in Guwahati. According to Tiwari, ULFA cadres are working closely with other militant groups like the Meghalaya-based Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).
Panic grips thousands of local residents in Tinsukia district after they came to notice high levels of gas emissions in water. The villagers in Hilikhaguri are scared of using the water from the hand pump to douse out the fires they use to cook food in their houses. This gas emissions spread beyond Deohall tea estate. The angry people in Hilikhaguri village blamed it all on Oil India for not paying any attention to the repeated complaints.
The All Bodoland Minority Students' Union on Saturday denied involvement of a newly formed unit was involved in the recent clashes. The organization said that there was no evidence about it. The ABMSU leader said refugee camps were facing shortage of essential items despite assurances by the administration.
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