Assam BJP dispatches Rs 16 crore flood relief materials to Upper Assam

The Assam unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on July 29 dispatched flood relief materials worth Rs 16 crore to affected families in Upper Assam, with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma flagging off the consignment from the party’s state headquarters in Guwahati.

The relief materials were collected through voluntary contributions from BJP workers and will be distributed among flood-affected people in Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat and Golaghat districts.

The consignment was flagged off from Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan in the presence of Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia, state ministers, BJP MLAs and party workers.

The relief package includes 1.8 lakh mekhela chadors, 1.8 lakh children’s T-shirts and 1.5 lakh mosquito nets.

The floods, triggered by heavy rainfall in Nagaland on July 19, severely affected several parts of Upper Assam. According to the BJP, nearly 11 lakh people across 2,101 villages were affected, while several lives were lost and thousands of homes were damaged.

Speaking at the programme, Sarma said the floods in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat had pushed thousands of families into severe hardship and created uncertainty about their immediate future.

The chief minister thanked organisations, NGOs and individuals across Assam for extending assistance to flood-affected communities.

Sarma also highlighted the relief and rehabilitation measures announced by the state government. The next of kin of those who died in the floods will receive Rs 4 lakh as government ex gratia and an additional Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, taking the total assistance to Rs 9 lakh.

Similar financial assistance will be provided to the families of people who remain missing after one month, if they are not traced, he said.

The chief minister said Orunodoi benefits would be disbursed on August 1, ahead of the scheduled date of August 3. Flood-affected beneficiary families will receive special assistance of Rs 2,500.

The government will also provide free textbooks and school uniforms to affected students. Higher secondary students will receive Rs 1,000, undergraduate students Rs 3,000 and postgraduate students Rs 5,000 as financial assistance.

Academic documents lost in the floods will be reissued free of cost, Sarma said.

He added that affected families in the four flood-hit districts would receive immediate financial assistance of Rs 17,500, along with an additional Rs 15,000 per family.

Sarma further said that, following directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, he would meet representatives of banks operating in Assam to discuss special support measures for flood-affected borrowers.

The chief minister said the BJP’s flood relief fund had been mobilised entirely through voluntary contributions from party workers.

Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia thanked the chief minister for the government’s response to the crisis and expressed gratitude to party workers involved in rescue operations, relief distribution and other humanitarian efforts.

Saikia appealed to BJP workers to continue supporting flood-affected families until normalcy is fully restored.