For Assam, the mighty Brahmaputra, though a life-giving river, has become more synonymous with devastation than with prosperity. Also known as the ‘Burha Luit’ (the Old Red River) and the ‘Bor Noi’ (the big river), the Brahmaputra has become the river of sorrow. The media covers the news only in one part of the year when floods submerge the State—and that too a mention here and a mention there. But they have never conveyed the misery that the people go through, year after year. Floods have pushed thousands of people to an uncertain future; they have shattered Assam’s fragile economy as a whole. For a State with 2.6 crore people, it is a major problem: more serious than insurgency.

This year again the monsoon rains have swollen the Brahmaputra and wreaked havoc. Reports say floods have already affected over 4,850,177 people in 20 of the State’s 24 districts. The worst-affected districts are Nalbari, Dhemaji, Kamrup and Morigaon. The number of dwelling units damaged is over 200,000 and 21 lives have been lost so far. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has even said this year’s floods are the worst in 50 years.

Statistics say that 21 districts routinely suffer from floods. While districts like Dhemaji and North Lakhimpur remain flooded for nearly three months, the number of people frequently affected is 30 lakh while the standing crop area damaged is over 200,000 hectares.

According to the National Flood Commission, the area liable to floods in Assam stands at 31.60 lakh hectares. Assam thus accounts for as much as 9.4 per cent of the total flood-prone area in the country.

The Assam Revenue Department gives alarming statistics: Last year alone (2002), Assam’s estimated loss of property, including land due to erosion, was put at Rs. 72.43 crore. Damage to public utilities last year stands at Rs. 566.24 crore. The area eroded by rivers in spate across the State last year was 429,657 hectares.

There is a full-fledged Flood Control Department headed by a Cabinet minister, but even then the problem continues year after year after year.

In 1981, the Brahmaputra Board was set up with the main purpose of implementing schemes to harness the river. All it has done in the last 21 years is to prepare a master plan that envisages two massive multi-purpose dams on the Dehang and Subansiri rivers—tributaries of the Brahmaputra—in Arunachal Pradesh and smaller dams on the other tributaries. The two mega-dams will cost Rs. 250 billion.

The master plan gathered dust. For 11 years, the Board was without a chairman until it was revived in 1995 with appointments to some key posts.And dams haven't been constructed yet for political reasons.

Deforestation is a major reason for the floods becoming an annual feature. Indiscriminate deforestation has led to massive amount of topsoil coming loose in the rains. Thus, the soil flows into the river and in turn causes the riverbeds of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries to rise.

Then, the receding waters bring their own set of problems. The immediate danger is always of water-borne diseases spreading in the absence of safe drinking water. This year, till date, over 35 people have reportedly lost their lives to water-related diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, etc in two districts.

The long-term problem is food scarcity since no land is suitable for cultivation in the post-monsoon season. What then is the solution? No one can say for sure. Assam has tried several schemes but most of them have been temporary. For instance, the network of embankments and dykes can partially take care of the rising waters. The problem is that nearly 70 per cent of the embankments, running to a length of some 4,448 kilometres, have lost their capacity to prevent floods and strengthening the embankments would require a massive inflow of funds.