Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi pointed fingers at three lawmakers for the catastrophic floods currently hitting the district. He named Water Resources Minister Susanta Borgohain, Sonari MLA Dharmeswar Konwar, and MLA Mayur Borgohain as the ringleaders of a mining syndicate. These men operate along the Dikhow River. The scheme involves stone mining operations linked to the office of Jayanta Malla Baruah, the Minister for Finance, Environment, Forest, and Mines and Minerals.
Gogoi dropped the allegations during a Facebook Live session on August 22. He disputed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s claim that a cloudburst triggered the disaster. The India Meteorological Department backed his assessment. It ruled out a cloudburst entirely. Gogoi claims the Chief Minister is misleading the public to hide the truth.
Drone footage tells a different story. Gogoi dispatched a specialized team to inspect the riverbanks. They found five coffer dams built in active mining zones. Monsoon rains battered these structures, forcing water levels to spike. Protective stone embankments are gone. This damage left massive stretches of land exposed to the rising water and wrecked local tea gardens. Gogoi blasted the government for the poor state of the disaster response. He said, "Only around 10 per cent of the required relief reached affected people."
The criticism did not stop there. He slammed the quality of the aid packages reaching victims. The rice smelled rotten. The mattresses provided were so flimsy they could not serve even domestic animals. Authorities ignored the danger. They failed to issue early warnings before the floods hit. Rescue teams never reached many trapped residents. Gogoi is now demanding a full inquiry into the mining syndicate and immediate action against the named politicians.
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