Photo Courtesy: nenow
Guwahati: The Indian Space Research Organisation delivered 33 flood inundation maps to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority this monsoon season. The data, supplied to the state agency up to July 28, aimed to speed up rescue and relief operations. Union Minister Jitendra Singh confirmed in the Lok Sabha that ISRO shares these products within 5 to 6 hours of satellite acquisition. The government uses Synthetic Aperture Radar and optical data from satellites like EOS-04, Resourcesat 2, and Cartosat to monitor the Brahmaputra basin.
Despite this, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi alleges the state dropped the ball. He points to flash floods in Sivasagar on July 19, where local officials reportedly had only three hours to react before the water hit. No official warnings were issued ahead of time. Gogoi claims the state government and ASDMA failed to pass these critical satellite insights to residents on the ground.
The minister stated: "The spatial flood inundation data is published on the National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM) portal for visualisation at the district and sub-district levels. High-resolution satellite data is also used to assess flood damage at the district level, subject to the availability of cloud-free satellite imagery."
Gogoi argues that the delay left thousands of people unable to save livestock or household goods. He is now demanding answers on why this tech failed to trigger timely alerts. Records show ISRO also provided 45 similar maps during the 2025 monsoon season.
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