‘Does PM really CARE for Assam?’: Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi seeks Rs 10,000 crore flood package
Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a Rs 10,000 crore package for Assam after the recent floods. He also questioned why PM CARES did not step in as the state faced heavy losses and 105 deaths.
- Aug 20, 2026,
- Updated Aug 20, 2026, 8:27 PM IST
Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on August 20 urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a Rs 10,000 crore special package for the state to compensate people for economic losses and repair rural infrastructure damaged by the recent floods.
Gogoi, who is also the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the package was needed to address damage to roads, shops, schools and drinking water infrastructure.
“I request PM Modi to give a Rs 10,000 crore special package for Assam to cover the economic loss of the people and the damage to rural infrastructure,” Gogoi said in a post on X.
He also questioned the use of the PM CARES Fund during the flood crisis, alleging that the fund had a corpus of Rs 8,452 crore even as Assam faced one of its worst floods in decades.
“Does PM really CARE for the people of Assam?” Gogoi said, citing the fund’s latest audited report. He claimed nearly 93 per cent of the corpus was kept in fixed deposits, while only Rs 87.85 lakh was spent during the 2024–25 financial year.
The Centre has so far sanctioned Rs 379.35 crore to Assam as the first instalment under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
Gogoi also questioned the need for the PM CARES Fund despite the existence of the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF), which has a broader mandate for responding to large-scale emergencies.
“It was designed to consolidate and leverage resources from a wider range of sources. Yet, when Assam urgently needed resources, the PM CARES Fund failed to step in,” he alleged.
According to Gogoi, Assam was instead forced to depend on contributions from organisations and individuals during the crisis.
“This raises a fundamental question: does PM CARES for Assam at all?” he said.
Assam has been battling severe flooding since July 19, with Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat among the worst-affected districts. The latest wave of floods has claimed 105 lives so far, according to official figures.