Assam citizens’ forum calls for scientific solution to flood problem

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Civil Defence and SDRF personnel rescued people from the Anil Nagar area amid a flood-like situation following heavy rainfall in Guwahati on Friday. | Photo Credit: ANI

A citizens’ forum in Assam has called for a comprehensive and scientific approach to the flood problem—one that looks beyond temporary relief and embankment repairs and examines the entire river and ecological system.

On Friday (August 21, 2026), members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised ‘demand day’, seeking the national disaster tag for the deluge that leaves scores dead and displaces thousands every year.

The party also demanded ₹20 lakh for the families of those killed in the recent floods, ₹1 lakh in immediate assistance to each affected family and up to ₹10 lakh for houses destroyed in the floods.

The Assam Nagorik Sammilan, a forum headed by academician Hiren Gohain and former Director General of Police Harekrishna Deka, said the State’s geographical position makes it vulnerable to flooding via rivers originating in the mountains of the surrounding hill States.

“It is therefore only natural that construction, mining and other large-scale activities in the upper reaches of these river systems will affect the volume and speed of water flowing into Assam. And that is precisely where we are witnessing serious changes,” the forum said, citing the recent devastation in Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Jorhat districts.

The forum also warned of a similar disaster if the Eco-Sensitive Zone around Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve is reduced to 1 k.m. from the default 10 km.

“Kaziranga’s Eco-Sensitive Zone cannot be treated as an issue separate from the larger environmental crisis facing Assam. The conservation of forests, wetlands, and floodplains is closely connected to the State’s ecological security and its ability to cope with floods,” it said.

The forum announced a plan for a convention to bring together environmentalists, forest experts, engineers, river specialists, geologists, historians, social scientists, activists, and people from flood-affected areas to examine the flood and environmental crisis from every possible perspective.

The perspectives include the impact of climate change, changes in river systems, embankments, dams and other infrastructure, mining, deforestation, wetlands, floodplains and the larger development model being followed in the northeast.

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