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Off the level

Off the level the fury of floods reached Assam's power centre when Guwahati's prominent markets got flooded and experts noticed a crack in the city's only crossover bridge over Brahmaputra river. The breach was repaired in record time. But the crisis in the rest of the state hasn't been assuaged to the same extent.

Even as the state government reported on July 26, 2004 that water levels of the major rivers had begun receding, the overall flood situation remained grim. Road communication to all flood-affected areas stayed severed. While the death toll in the state reached 136, the number of people dead or missing in the floods was 535 in India, 285 in Bangladesh, 86 in Nepal and three in Bhutan, according to an afp tally based on official figures as on July 26. More than 1.17 crore people have been affected in Assam and more than 15.87 lakh of these are still staying in the 1,557 relief camps. Besides, inundated areas in the northeast have reported cases of malaria and diarrhoea.

The despair in the situation was further intensified as Assam's water resources department declared before the press that the state's 4,459 km-long embankment system was vulnerable, having completed its lifespan two decades ago. These embankments had been constructed by the government between 1950 and 1970 as a short-term flood control measure. A master plan prepared by the Brahmaputra Board in 1981 to permanently solve the problem suggested the construction of high-rise multi-purpose dams in upper catchments of the Brahmaputra basin. These dams are now under construction but are very controversial with regard to their environmental impacts.

It was a breach in a dam in Bhutan that flooded Assam and other Indian states more than 20 days before the government's estimates. The dam is a part of the 60 megawatt Kurichhu hydro-electric project in Bhutan's Mongar district. The project is funded by India and also sells surplus power to it.

Successive floods have repeatedly shown that watersheds and flood plains of the seven northeast states, Nepal, Bihar, Bhutan and Bangladesh are intertwined. Thus, as Assam suffered the price of the breach in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Garo Hills in Meghalaya also bore the brunt, in turn. Tripura too got cut off from the rest of the country on July 24 due to floodwaters of Bangladesh rushing onto the shared flood plains.

Meanwhile, prime minister Manmohan Singh constituted a Task Force to look into the problem during his maiden visit to the area after assuming office. He also released the usual relief funds. It remains to be seen whether the Task Force again recommends construction of dams or has the political mandate to view the region as an integrated hydrological system.

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