Parliament Question: Impact of annual floods in Assam

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1845 ANSWERED ON 09.03.2026 IMPACT OF ANNUAL FLOODS IN ASSAM 1845 SHRI AJIT KUMAR BHUYAN: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that every year flood severely affects many places of the State of Assam; (b) if so, the details thereof and the precautions taken by Government to prevent and secure people of Assam from the massive flood situation that occur every year; (c) whether any special package has been announced by Government for the flood affected areas; and (d) whether Government is taking any precautions towards this issue since the release of water from dams by China and Bhutan in the monsoon inundates the already flooded Brahmaputra river and Assam has been grappling with massive floods for last few monsoons? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY) (a) The country faces the problem of flood and erosion in varying degrees in different parts including Assam. As per report of Central Water Commission on “Assessment of Area Affected Due to Floods in India, 2024” based on satellite imageries data from 1986 to 2022, the total flood affected areas in Assam is assessed as 2.477 Mha and area protected through various steps taken for flood management by the Central/State Government is 2.110 Mha. (b) & (c) Government of Assam has informed that the construction of 722 km of new embankments, raising and strengthening of 863 km of existing embankments, execution of 358 anti-erosion and protection schemes covering 456 km, and the construction of 49 sluice gates have been taken up by State during last five years to prevent and secure people of Assam from the massive flood situation that occur every year. State Government has also informed that State has secured External Assistance from World Bank for Assam Integrated River Basin Management Program (AIRBMP) for comprehensive and integrated flood and erosion risk management of three major tributaries of Buridihing, Beki & Jiadhol in Assam and from Asian Development Bank for Climate Resilient Brahmaputra Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk management Project (CRBIFRERMP) for flood and erosion management along the main stem of the Brahmaputra in 9 districts: Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Morigaon, Kamrup, and Goalpara, 1Dhakuakhana, Biswanath, North Lakhimpur and Sonitpur districts. The entire CRBIFRERMP project aims to build and stabilize approximately 200km of vulnerable erosion prone riverbank in Assam with 32 km of new embankment for flood protection. In order to provide more lead time to the local authorities to plan evacuation of people & take other remedial measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) has developed basin wise flood forecasting model based on rainfall-runoff mathematical modelling for 7 days advance flood forecast advisory at identified flood forecasting and inflow forecasting stations in addition to short-range forecast having response time upto 24 hours. Its dissemination is through the dedicated website, namely, https://aff.india-water.gov.in. CWC flood forecasting services are also integrated with integrated alert dissemination platform Common Alert Protocol (CAP) issued to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) of the respective States/ UTs. Total 32 (30 level+ 02 Inflow) nos. of Flood Forecasting Stations are maintained by CWC in Assam. During flood season 2025, total of 1463 short range forecasts (level forecasts) were issued for the state of Assam out of which 1437 forecasts were within limit with an accuracy of 98.22%. (d) The various issues relating to trans-border rivers with China are discussed under the ambit of an institutionalized Expert Level Mechanism which was established in 2006. Further, Water level and discharge are observed and monitored at sites on Brahmaputra River close to the international boundary between India and China. A Joint Expert Team (JET) has been constituted in 1979 to monitor the progress of the work related to collection and transmission of hydro-meteorological data on 36 hydro-meteorological sites on common rivers flowing from Bhutan to India including releases from dams of Bhutan like Tala HEP, Chukha HEP and Kurichhu dam etc. The data received from above 36 stations are shared with the State Govt. of Assam and West Bengal and also utilized by Central Water Commission for formulating flood forecasts. ***** 2