Thaindian News

Guwahati, June 30 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi will visit the flood-affected areas of Assam Monday, a senior party leader said Saturday.

“Sonia Gandhi will reach the state Monday with a day-long schedule to take stock of the flood situation in Assam. She is also likely to make an aerial visit to the flood-affected areas of the state before leaving for Delhi the same evening,” the Congress leader told IANS.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who was in the US on an official visit, is also scheduled to reach the state capital Sunday.

Meanwhile, the overall flood situation has slightly improved in Assam with water levels in some of the rivers, including the Brahmaputra, showing a receding trend since Friday morning.

According to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), 36 people have died so far due to the floods across the state till Friday. However, the causality figure might increase as reports of recovery of bodies have been pouring in from various places in the state.

Apart from this, 14 people have also died due to landslides in various parts of the state in a span of the past two weeks, the SDMA said.

The SDMA sources informed that a total of 27 districts of the state were affected due to the floods till Saturday, affecting more than 13 lakh people and damaging 3,06,385 hectares of crop land.

The Assam government had announced Rs.1 lakh each as exgratia payment to those families, whose members had died in the floods and landslides.

Apart from this, the government had also assured the affected people to compensate for the damage to their properties and paddy fields.

Assam Agriculture Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka Saturday made an aerial visit to all the flood affected areas of Upper and Lower Assam. The minister was accompanied by member of the National Disaster Management Authority K.M. Singh.