Worst Flood Victims Demand Attention

It is a known issue that even after being Assam’s lifeline, both the Brahmaputra and the Barak rivers are also responsible for bringing down immense miseries to the people of the state; especially to those who reside in the char areas. Apart from loss of numerous lives, the economy is also affected by manifolds.

- Jahidul Islam Khan

Gist About Chars

Flood is Assam’s worst nemesis and in the near future we do not see it allowing the state live in peace. Every year floods bring upon large scale miseries, affecting the state profoundly. The people living in the chars of both Brahmaputra and the Barak bear the brunt every monsoon. Also called as the valley areas, the chars in Assam occupy around 4.6 per cent of the total land area and about 9.37 per cent of Assam’s total population resides in these areas, occupying 4 to 5 per cent of Assam’s agricultural land. The population density of the char areas is around 700 persons per square kilometer.

Tales of Destruction

Every year, as the heavens pour down heavily and swamps the rivers of Assam, catastrophe falls upon the people living in the char areas. Not just are their farmlands destroyed, but lives- both humans and poultry- are lost in plenty. Their farmlands are eroded away, houses are swallowed in and life is put in peril.

Flood destroys the farmlands and kills their poultry on which their economy is strongly based on. But with this yearly destruction, the char people are unable to raise their economic conditions.