Guwahati, July 07: There has to be a national solution to the flood problem, no point declaring it a national problem, said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday.

“Our focus must be on finding a national solution to the Assam floods unlike those who only want to declare it a national problem. There will be no profit from declaring it as a national calamity,” Sarma told reporters at Palasbari after visiting relief camps.

“A national solution to the problem should be announced. What will I gain if it is announced as a national problem,” he questioned. Many quarters in Assam had demanded to declare floods a national problem considering their magnitude and severity.

“When people come from a foreign country they will see it as a national problem. Nobody will come to Assam when they will see it as a problem. They will come if there is a solution,” Sarma also said.

“Our focus is on how to solve the problem. In 2004 there were 400 embankment breaches while today we have only 4 such breaches. We are on the way to a solution. We need funds so that we can solve the problem,” he also said.

“This time also the Central government has provided us funds for the construction of dykes at Beki and Buridihing. They are also providing us more for flood management schemes,” he further said.

“We are working on a permanent solution. I am trying so that there can be a national solution to it,” he added.

Sarma said this as 66 people have died in the second wave of floods till now. Nearly 23 lakh people have been affected.

Rules say there is no executive or legal provision to declare a natural calamity as a national calamity. The existing guidelines of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/ National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), do not contemplate declaring a disaster as a National Calamity.

When a calamity is declared to be of “rare severity”/”severe nature”, support to the state government is provided at the national level. The Centre also considers additional assistance from the NDRF. A Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is set up, with the corpus shared 3:1 between Centre and state. When resources in the CRF are inadequate, additional assistance is considered from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF), funded 100% by the Centre.

In 2001, the National Committee on Disaster Management under the chairmanship of the then Prime Minister was mandated to look into the parameters that should define a national calamity. However, the committee did not suggest any fixed criterion.

A Parliamentary Committee a few years back had noted that as per the Constitution, flood control falls under the jurisdiction of respective states. However, since most rivers flow across multiple states, flood control measures taken by one state may have inter-state ramifications. It recommended the central government to build consensus on placing flood control and management under the Concurrent list of the Constitution.

The Committee had recommended establishing the National Integrated Flood Management Group under the Ministry of Jal Shakti as an overarching body responsible for flood management.

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