'People who owed nobody anything still gave': Gaurav Gogoi thanks Assam's flood volunteers

Assam Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on July 31 paid tribute to volunteers, grassroots organisations and ordinary citizens who came together to help people during one of the state's worst floods in recent years, saying their collective efforts kept relief, medicines and hope moving when many areas remained cut off.

In a post on X, Gogoi said homes had disappeared, roads had been washed away, and entire villages were left stranded during the floods. He said many young people, despite having no prior experience in organising relief work, stepped forward to coordinate aid, while grassroots organisations became the backbone of relief efforts. He also thanked people across Assam who contributed their time, money and labour to support those affected.

His remarks came as the Assam government announced a six-month moratorium on repayment of all types of loans for flood-affected borrowers in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat districts.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the decision was taken at a special meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC), attended by representatives of the Reserve Bank of India, NABARD, State Bank of India and other commercial banks.

According to the chief minister, banks will verify the condition of borrowers and the moratorium will be available only to those affected by the floods. He urged borrowers who were not impacted by the disaster to continue paying their equated monthly instalments (EMIs).

Sarma also said banks would be allowed to extend the tenure of loans by up to seven years, depending on the nature of the loan. Small retail shop owners whose businesses were destroyed by the floods will receive an additional Rs 10,000 in their existing loan accounts without any fresh mortgage or collateral, he added.

The chief minister further announced that the state government would provide a one-time assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh to each Namghar in flood-hit Sivasagar and Charaideo districts for rebuilding.

Meanwhile, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said the flood toll rose to 80 after two people, including a boy, drowned in Sivasagar district over the past 24 hours.

The latest ASDMA bulletin said more than 2.12 lakh people remained affected across Charaideo, Golaghat, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts. Charaideo continued to be the worst-affected district, followed by Sivasagar and Jorhat. However, the overall situation improved from the previous day, when more than three lakh people were affected.

The administration is currently operating 112 relief camps and relief distribution centres, where over 75,500 people are being sheltered.

Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas in Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat before visiting relief camps, where he interacted with displaced families and reviewed the availability of food, drinking water, healthcare and sanitation. He assured residents that the government was committed to providing relief and restoring normalcy at the earliest.

Sarma also said the state had sought a dedicated support package from the Centre after an Inter-Ministerial Central Team completed its assessment of the flood-hit districts. The state has requested that the Upper Assam floods be recognised as an "atypical, high-intensity, rapid-onset event" to enable flexible norms for damage assessment and assistance.

According to the chief minister, the proposed package would cover relief, housing, infrastructure and livelihood restoration in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat. He added that nearly 13,000 households in the affected areas still remained without electricity nearly two weeks after the floods, with restoration work continuing based on ground conditions.