#ASSAMFLOODS - LIVE.DIE.REPEAT.
At a time when the entire world is fighting the COVID19 pandemic and countries are declaring lockdowns across the world, in a remote corner of India, the entire North East is grappling with a natural gas leak in Assam and the annual epidemic of the region – the floods and landslides.
The Coronavirus pandemic has claimed 109 lives till date as per a dashboard specifically dedicated to the Coronavirus pandemic in various platforms. But, like every year since after independence, this year too the floods have claimed more than 110 lives both human as well as animal lives in just over a month. Nearly 34 lakh people have been displaced from their homes and 60 lakh people affected by the floods in 34 out of 35 districts of Assam alone against only 18 lakh confirmed Corona cases across the nation. If we add the numbers from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, this is definitely a huge pandemic for the nation. Sadly, the floods happen every year and there is no dashboard to show these numbers. In fact, these figures that I am quoting are a couple of days old as opposed to the live tracking of the COVID deaths in the state and across the country.
This situation has not changed in over 70 years of independence and it is not even frontline news for the media. The people here start from scratch every year, build a home in 10 months just to be brought back to the streets or refugee camps once again. The sad reality is that these poor people are not even shifted to refugee camps. They set up camps on the side of the roads near their homes at their own cost with whatever they can salvage from the floods without even thinking of things like social distancing, mask and sanitization. I write this from what I have seen myself a few days back when I was travelling through a place ravaged by floods.
This is in stark comparison to the Govt. funds that are received to set up specific quarantine centres in various places, including 5 star hotels in the region and funds for the treatment of each and every Corona patient. What is even more sad is that even the news of Bollywood Starts contracting COVID and what they eat for breakfast during quarantine is more newsworthy than the lives of the 110 flood deaths
Various hastags for corona has been created for solidarity, corona warriors have been celebrated with great pomp and show, any corona warrior who has lost their life in line of duty have been compensated by various organizations making an exception to their own policies. The Govt. has rolled out free LPG cylinders to the PM Ujjwala Yojna beneficiaries too due to Corona.
I write about these things with a heavy heart because in the North East, Corona has come for the first time, but the floods come every year no matter what, taking hundreds of lives in its wake and the situation has become worse every year. Most of the roads in the plains are flooded and roads in the hills have been washed away. Trains are getting cancelled.I heard someone talking over the phone one day and the person on the other side was saying, “Brother, Welcome to the Mainland”. He was travelling somewhere to North India. This is the reality of what the "Mainland" thinks about us.
Sadly, we were the only state that was not ruled by the Mughals as they couldn't invade our lands despite repeated attempts. We are the state with the highest GDP post independence. We are the state which gives the entire world it's tea, it's oil, its minerals and its natural beauty.
A few years back, I heard things were going to be better. I hope the people in the North East see those good days soon.
To leave you with some food for thought, I think some inspired intervention and proper planning can turn the sorrow of these lands into power for the rest of the country by harvesting the immense hydroelectric potential of the region, especially during the floods. This way everyone stands to gain.