It is unfortunate that the Government of Assam has not yet been able to fully prepare itself to mitigate the sufferings of the people during floods and on most occasions, the concerned departments of the Government start the preparations to deal with the natural calamity only during the monsoon season. Last year, the State faced one of the worst ever floods, which affected all but one district of the State, but till now, most of the flood prone districts are not well equipped to deal with such a situation. Flood prone Dhemaji district was cut off from the rest of the State after a breach of the embankment of the Jiadhol River inundated a portion of the National Highway 52 on May 28 and this happened before the onset of monsoon. The Water Resources Department has not yet been able to plug the breaches on the embankment that occurred last year because of the failure of the Government to release funds on time and it is reported that the Department received only Rs 100 crore from the Government to plug the breaches against the requirement of Rs 220 crore. With allegations of poor quality of work carried out by the Water Resources Department cropping up from time to time, the Government can examine the feasibility of engaging a team of experts from one technical institutions of the State to examine the quality of the works carried out by the Department. Following a large number of breaches on the embankments last year, the Chief Minister announced the decision of the Government to institute a high level probe into the phenomenon, but it is not yet known whether the probe has been completed. The Government should make public the report of the enquiry commission if the probe has been completed as the people of Assam, who suffered a lot due to floods, have the right to know the reasons of their sufferings. It is a fact that it is beyond the means of the State Government to take permanent measures to deal with the problems of flood and erosion, but at least efforts should be made to mitigate the sufferings of the people. Rescue and relief teams equipped with boats should be constituted in the flood prone areas to launch rescue and relief operations whenever floods strike a particular area. The Government should make available adequate funds at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioners, particularly of the flood prone districts, to launch relief operations whenever necessary and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should be requested to keep adequate stock of rice in the godowns to ensure that no district faces scarcity during floods. At the same time, pressure should be mounted on the Government of India to come forward to take up permanent measures to deal with the problem of floods as the promises made earlier by the Centre in this regard have remained on paper only.