Assam citizens’ forum calls for scientific solution to flood problem

Assam citizens' forum calls for scientific solution to flood difficulty The CPI(M) organises 'demand day' to seek the national disaster tag for the State's annual deluge.

Key points

• The forum additionally cautioned of a similar disaster if the Eco-Sensitive Zone around Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve is reduced to 1 k.m.
• Civil Defence and SDRF personnel rescued individuals from the Anil Nagar area against the backdrop of a flood-like situation after heavy rainfall in Guwahati on Friday.
• Kaziranga's Eco-Sensitive Zone cannot be treated as an matter separate from the larger environmental crisis facing Assam.
• And that is precisely where we are witnessing serious changes, the forum remarked, citing the recent devastation in Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Jorhat districts.

Civil Defence and SDRF personnel rescued individuals from the Anil Nagar area against the backdrop of a flood-like situation after heavy rainfall in Guwahati on Friday. Photo Credit: ANI.

For context, a citizens' forum in Assam has pressed 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.

For context, the party additionally 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.

In practice, the Assam Nagorik Sammilan, a forum headed by academician Hiren Gohain and former Director General of Police Harekrishna Deka, remarked 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 remarked, citing the recent devastation in Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Jorhat districts.

For context, the forum additionally cautioned 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 matter 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 remarked.

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

Meanwhile, 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.

In short, assam citizens' forum calls for scientific solution to flood problem is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.