Guwahati, Jul 29 (PTI) The Assam Congress on Wednesday sought the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, alleging that the devastating flood situation across eastern districts of the state was a direct consequence of the government’s persistent violation of mandatory legal directives issued by the court.
The deluge, in which at least 75 people have been killed and over 3.32 lakh people in six districts remain affected so far, is “a man-made catastrophe,” the Congress claimed.
The opposition party’s legal cell said in a statement that, based on multiple PILs and a review petition filed earlier, the high court had issued clear directives to protect the Dikhow River basin, formulate a master plan and deploy a task force battalion to curb illegal mining.
The Dikhow is a major tributary of the Brahmaputra river and originates in Nagaland before flowing into Assam through Sivasagar district.
“However, due to gross administrative negligence, these judicial directives were never implemented. Consequently, unregulated mechanised mining destroyed the natural ecological defences of the rivers, triggering catastrophic floods in Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat districts,” it claimed.
The letter petition maintained that the latest flood fury was “not a natural calamity, but a man-made catastrophe resulting from government apathy, complicity in illegal sand and stone mining, and the uncoordinated, sudden release of water from upstream dams in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh”.
It also asserted that pushing for mega hydroelectric power projects without downstream environmental safety audits or inter-state early warning systems will condemn the public to perennial flooding.
“Through this petition, the Congress party demands that instead of token relief, the government must be held liable under the principles of ‘Constitutional Tort’ and ‘Strict Liability’ to provide full restitution to flood victims for loss of homes, crops, and livestock,” the statement said.
It also demanded the implementation of a special rehabilitation project for the Dikhow River basin utilising District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) funds, a moratorium on proposed hydroelectric projects until a court-monitored independent expert committee completes an assessment, and a transparent explanation from the government as to why the task force was never deployed. PTI SSG NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.