Federal Home Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday made an aerial survey of the flood-hit Nagaon and Morigaon districts and Kaziranga national park area and assured the Assam state government all possible help to deal with the situation even as he asked the state government to prepare an effective action plan.
Singh was accompanied by DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other senior bureaucrats.  The minister also visited a relief camp near Jagiroad in Morigaon district and interacted with the inmates there.
“I have visited some of the flood-hit areas of Morigaon, Nagaon and Kaziranga national park to review the situation. I felt that the situation is really serious. I have requested Chief Minister Sonowal to help the flood-hit people in the best possible way and the federal government will extend all possible help to the state government to deal with the situation,” said Singh while interacting with reporters at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati before leaving for New Delhi.
He said about 3.6mn people of the state have been affected by the current wave of floods in 28 districts of the state.  “A total of 26 people have died due to floods within one week,” he said while appreciating the way the state government is dealing with the situation.
Asked about any financial package for Assam to deal with the floods, the federal minister said that there state government has an amount of Rs. 6.2bn under the State Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and that more funds will be given to the state as per the requirement to deal with the flood problem. 
“Let this amount be utilised, the Centre will give more funds. Funds are not going to be a constraint for the state government,” he said.
“The chief minister has already submitted a memorandum to me and on my return to New Delhi, we are going to consider all the demands included in the memorandum,” he said adding that the Central government will give more funds to the state government after the Central team visits the state and assess the overall flood damage.
Appreciating the role of agencies like the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Disaster Rescue Force (SDRF) and the Army, Singh said they have been working effectively with the concerned district administrations to help the marooned people and they have saved over 6,000 lives in the last few days. 
Singh expressed his happiness to see that all the peoples’ representatives in Assam are there with the flood-hit people in their respective constituencies.
On asked about declaring Assam’s flood as a national problem, he said by declaring flood as a national problem will not solve the matter. 
“We must find out what is the cause of the floods and how to mitigate the problem. We have already asked the state government to prepare an action plan in this regard,” he said.
Singh further stressed that the embankments of the rivers in the state should be strengthened and repaired as a short-term measure to stop floods but added that the Central government has been contemplating some long-term measures to find a lasting solution to the flood problem in Assam.
Meanwhile, Sonowal yesterday directed the state Chief Secretary to constitute an Embankment Protection Committee to avert breaches in any river embankment.
Sonowal said that the Embankment Protection Committee would comprise engineers, experts, youth organisations, NGOs, clubs and socio-cultural organisations will help to avert breaches in embankment with timely intervention.
The chief minister also asked the Water Resources Department to go in for thorough and in-depth inspection of the condition of around 1,200 embankments covering a stretch of 500km so that strengthening and repairing of the old embankments could be carried out.
He directed officials of the Water Resources Department to conduct proper inspection of the embankments across the state and submit project estimates by August next so that revetment of embankments can start from September onwards. 
Conventional embankments in Assam have failed in controlling floods in the state and other eastern Indian states. While Brahmaputra is the main river in Assam there are above 100 of its tributaries. There are over 4,400 km of embankments in Assam and most of them have expired their life terms.


After the gridlocks, 1,500 cops to monitor Gurgaon traffic movement


Over 1,500 policemen, including four Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs), have been pressed into service in Gurgaon to ensure smooth movement of traffic following the massive rain-related traffic snarls and water logging a day ago that virtually brought the Millennium City to its knees.
Gurgaon police chief Navdeep Singh Virk yesterday issued an advisory to make the traffic system in this Millennium City smooth.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said that various departments have been asked to take steps to deal with rain-induced traffic snarls and that responsibility will be fixed for lapses in construction work that had reduced the carrying capacity of drains. 
Four DCPs have been made nodal officers to ensure smooth traffic movement during this rainy season.
DCP (Traffic) Balbir Singh has been appointed nodal officer for the area from Hans Enclave, close to Rajiv Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, to Rewari border.
Deepak Saharan, DCP (east), will look after traffic movement between Delhi’s Sirhaul border to Rajiv Chowk.
DCP (south) Sulochna has been given responsibility to of traffic movement on Nh248 (Gurgaon to Alwar).
Similarly, DCP(west) Sumit Kohar will be responsible for traffic in the area falling within the old Gurgaon’s west police district jurisdiction.
The team of over 1,500 police, including ACPs and 14 police inspectors, have been appointed to ensure smooth traffic movements at 14 crucial points of the city which were identified by Gurgaon police after a massive traffic jam in the city that started on Thursday evening and remained till Friday evening.
The traffic was worst hit at the Hero Honda chowk of Delhi-Gurgaon expressway where vehicles and commuters were trapped in over four feet storm water after the Badshahpur drain breached.
Commissioner Virk said the new advisory will help to ensure traffic jam free monsoon.
He said there would be alert for nodal officers regarding rain and waterlogging in the concerned areas.
The police have to provide hourly updates to the police control room.
Officers on duty cannot leave the place until relievers arrive and his force reports for duty.
The new system was pressed into service yesterday and positive results were reported across the city, but experts say the real test will begin next week after the first working day on Tuesday as tomorrow is is a religious holiday.
Talking to media persons in Chandigarh, Khattar said that water carrying capacity of the Badshahpur drain in Gurgaon had reduced over the years. 
“There has been some deficiency in construction works. We will see who were responsible and how to remove the shortcomings,” Khattar said. 
He said various departments in Gurgaon have been asked to be prepared to deal with waterlogging caused by heavy monsoon rains. 
“If such a situation arises, there should be preparedness,” he said. 
The Khattar government has faced criticism from opposition parties, including Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, for massive traffic jams in Gurgaon induced by monsoon rains.