One of the worst floods in Assam and Bihar
Assam is reeling under one of the worst floods this year following incessant rains. Out of the 35 districts in Assam, 23 are facing floods, affecting lakhs of people. In Morigaon, which is the worst-affected, 3.5 lakh people are hit. Even in Bihar, 33 lakh people in 14 districts have been affected by the floods with the death toll reaching 89. Thanks to the teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force, rescue and relief works have been provided to the affected districts. Till now 6.41 lakh people have been shifted to safer places in Bihar.
Haryana government recreates lost Saraswati river
In order to revive the lost Saraswati river, the Haryana government has pumped 100 cusecs of water from tubewells into a dug-up channel that is now considered the route of the river. The water was released from the Yamunanagar district that will flow for 40 km up to Kurukshetra. The government is planning to release another 100 cusecs into the route, after observing the flow of the released water. There are also plans to construct three dams to ensure perennial flow of the river.
Over 36 percent of rural scheduled tribes devoid of piped water supply
The government has informed the Rajya Sabha that over 36 percent of the total 2.01 crore Scheduled Tribes (ST) households in rural India do not have drinking water source in their houses. Also, the government has ordered the states to take special care for implementation of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) that aims to cover 90 percent of rural households in tribal areas with piped water supply by 2022 and report the progress separately on the online Integrated Management Monitoring System.
Musi revitalisation project on, but the river remains polluted
Central Pollution Control Board has listed the Musi river in the list of most polluted rivers in the country for the third time in a row. This is when a whopping of Rs 405 crores have been spent on the revival of the river since 2001. Under the Musi revitalisation project, nearly all the authorities proposed several plans for the conservation of the river. According to the secretary of Forum for Good Governance, M. Padmanabha Reddy, when it came to implementation, however, not a single civic authority came up with concrete actions taken for river's revival.
Waterlogging hits 84 percent of Indians this monsoon
According to an online poll conducted across India, nearly 84 percent of respondents witnessed waterlogging which shows that the issue remains a major public concern for urban India. The poll shows 78 percent of the respondents in Delhi claims to have lost a lot of time due to waterlogging, followed by 68 percent in Chennai, and 66 percent in Mumbai.
This is a roundup of important news updates from July 31 – August 6, 2016. Also read last week's policy matters update.