Humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood

Guwahati, 27th June 2022

Licypriya Kangujam provides humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood

Assam Floods: Climate Activist Licypriya Kangujam asks Govt to Rethink on building Dams
Licypriya Kangujam provides humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood.

Known as the youngest climate activists globally, Manipur’s Licypriya Kangujam has urged the government to rethink their agendas of building mega dams in the northeastern region.

Licypriya who has decided to spend the summer vacation helping the people of flood hit Assam was busy distributing relief to the flood affected people of Hojai & Nagaon district for the last 3 days. She is sharing the smile on their face during this troubled time.

The 10 year old activist said, “We’re drowning and our leaders are watching. I want our leaders to act quickly to help the flood victims. Maximum roads are washed away in the floods. People are taking shelter with tent houses in the highways. We need to reduce dams and also we need massive tree plantations to fight this climate crisis.”

With 117 people killed already, over 73 lakh people were affected by flood this year in the state, government relief and rescue works are not yet enough. People are struggling for drinking water, sanitation, food and shelter.

“Many children lost their parents and homes. Over 10 million people were displaced. Many people become homeless. Roads are damaged badly. Government reliefs are not enough. I’m very disappointed. Biggest problem people are facing right now is lack of drinking water and sanitation,” she added.

Licypriya Kangujam provides humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood

During her journey from Delhi to Guwahati to help the victims of Assam massive flood, she faced lots of troubles in her journey and also experienced wonderful accomplishments in her climate movement.

Protests erupted in many parts of the country last week due to Govt. Agnipath scheme Licypriya’s train from Delhi to Guwahati has been cancelled suddenly and she was stuck and faced troubles for several hours in Agra. She also witnessed the live burning of passengers’ train and railway stations at various places on her way by the rioters. When she reached Agra, instead of wasting time while waiting for the next train, she wished to fulfil her long awaited dream to see the “Taj Mahal” and visit the iconic monument.

When she visited the Taj Mahal, she was shocked by the amount of plastic pollution in and around the precious monument of the country. She came out and went to the backside of Taj Mahal near the bank of Yamuna river and held a placard writing “Behind The Beauty of Taj Mahal is Plastic Pollution ''. She clicked a picture there and tweeted the picture which went viral all over the world in a few hours.

This led to the forceful cleaning of in and around Taj Mahal the next day after she exposed the dark side of the iconic monument and also the Agra Municipal Corporation imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh to the authority for failure of sanitation around the Taj Mahal.

Meanwhile a leader of a leading Indian national political party Manish Jagan Agarwal of Samajwadi Party tweeted with the same picture mistaking Licypriya as a foreigner and attacked the UP Govt with the picture that a foreign tourist exposes the dirt of the BJP. Licypriya again exposes the racist attitude of mainland Indians to northeasterners after she responded that “I’m a proud Indian. I’m not a foreigner”. Later, he apologises publicly to Licypriya. People schooled him and trolled him badly and it became a national issue to stop such racial remarks against north eastern people.

After reaching Guwahati, she travelled to Jorhat to meet Mr Jadhav Payeng - “The Forest Man of India” to seek his blessings. Later she visited the flood affected areas of Hojai and Nagaon district of Assam and distributed free food relief materials like dal, rice, salt, oil, wheat, onion and potatoes to the victim people. She also interacted with the children staying at the relief camp site and listened to their stories and told the world.

Licypriya Kangujam provides humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood

Liycpriya said that, “I can’t donate millions but I can give my heart to millions”.

Jonota Kharikapcha (44) from Komorakata village, Hojai said that “This is the worst flood in their life and also in the history of Assam. My house was totally damaged and all school books for children and clothes were washed away. I have nothing now to survive. I am homeless now”.

A villager of Raha town in Nagaon district said that “Assam flood is an artificial flood. The main cause is due to release of excess water from the dams constructed on the downstream of Brahmaputra River and its tributaries. We face flash floods like 3 – 4 times in a year whenever there is some rainfall in the hilly region and release the dam gate. Flood is now become a new normal.”

“We have to reduce dams in the north eastern region as we're an ecologically very fragile region. More dams means more floods. In the next few years, whole North East India will be submerged inside the water, she warned.“

Licypriya suggested that “We can generate electricity from solar power projects instead of hydro power projects. Let the river flow in its natural way. It will save our planet and our future”.

Till today, Licypriya extended help to over 100 families. She is planning to reach out to Cachar district where flood is extreme at the moment.

Manipuri community of Assam like Guwahati Meira Paibi groups, Guwahati Manipuri Social Organization (GMSO), Manipuri Shahitya Parishad, Hojai and All Assam Manipuri Students Association (AAMSU) accorded warm welcome and felicitated to Licypriya and gave their blessings for more success in her life and laurels to the country.

Licypriya Kangujam provides humanitarian assistance to the victims of Assam Flood

Twitter: @LicypriyaK
Facebook: @Licypriya4Planet
Instagram: @licypriyakangujam