Now Reading: Payeng blames Nagaland mining for Assam floods, seeks central intervention
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Payeng blames Nagaland mining for Assam floods, seeks central intervention
Conservationist Jadav Payeng has alleged that coal mining and stone quarrying in Nagaland caused the catastrophic floods that killed over 100 people in Upper Assam last month. Payeng, known as the Forest…
The Story in Brief
Conservationist Jadav Payeng has alleged that coal mining and stone quarrying in Nagaland caused the catastrophic floods that killed over 100 people in Upper Assam last month. Payeng, known as the Forest Man of India, said mining had turned Nagaland's hills into 'tunnels', allowing water to rush directly into the plains, inundating areas usually safe from flooding. He questioned why the Nagaland administration issued warnings only after water had begun flowing downstream.
Payeng urged Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal to treat floods and erosion as a national problem rather than leaving them to states. He also criticised the Assam government's proposal to shrink the Kaziranga Eco-Sensitive Zone from 10 km to 1 km, warning it would worsen human-elephant conflict. The Assam government has cited several possible causes for the floods, including a shift in risk from the Brahmaputra to its tributaries and the Indian Ocean Dipole.
The Indian Opinion
Payeng's claims add a needed cross-border dimension to the flood debate, but accusations without data risk becoming another round of blame-shifting. Assam and Nagaland have long traded charges over floods and erosion. What is missing is a joint hydrological survey of the affected river systems. The central government should commission one, with results made public. Without numbers on silt loads and water discharge from mining areas, the real cause remains guesswork.
Source: assamtribune.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
