Guwahati: Gauhati high court on Wednesday admitted a public interest litigation filed by former Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia, alleging that the devastating July floods in upper Assam were a “man made disaster”, caused by illegal riverbed mining, official negligence and uncoordinated dam releases.A division bench headed by chief justice Ashutosh Kumar heard Saikia’s counsel, KN Chowdhury, and directed all listed respondents to file their replies by Nov 3.The floods in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat has claimed more than 90 lives, having displaced lakhs of people while destroying livelihoods of thousands of families, the petition said.Speaking to reporters, Saikia said he had warned the govt and authorities since 2018 about the dangers of unscientific sand and stone mining in the Dikhow riverbed, particularly along the Assam-Nagaland border.The former Congress MLA said he had filed two PILs in 2018 and 2019, prompting the high court to issue clear directions in 2019 and again in 2022 to stop illegal mining and to constitute a task force battalion.“The govt simply ignored those orders. Even the official report of the water resources department, dated Jan 12, 2022, clearly predicted that continued illegal excavation would change the river’s course and cause devastation, which has now come true in the most tragic manner,” Saikia said.“The govt has protected the mining mafia instead of protecting the people. Night time mining continued with impunity. I submitted repeated representations to the deputy commissioner, the superintendent of police, the chief secretary and even to the Chief Justice, but no action was taken,” he alleged.Saikia also blamed illegal open-cast coal mining in Nagaland’s Mon, Mokokchung and Wokha districts and sudden, uncoordinated water releases from the Doyang hydro electric project for aggravating the floods. He said years of illegal mining had destroyed natural sand and gravel bars that once moderated floodwaters.The PIL seeks a permanent ban on illegal riverbed mining in the Dikhow and its tributaries, implementation of the high court’s 2019 and 2022 orders, and a high-powered monitoring committee headed by a retired judge. It also seeks a scientific assessment of the role of mining and dam releases, full restorative compensation for victims, FIRs against those responsible and a real-time protocol for upstream dam releases.
