New Delhi/Shillong
17 September 2003
Friends:
Assam is recovering from its worst floods in years. It is a time to consider what we can do to help our people, not in a short-term way but with long-term goals and good, perspective planning.
Over several years I have been traveling on the river field level and meeting with villagers, panchayat members, boat-owners and operators, district officers listening to their concerns and documenting the river�s many moods, between Tibet and the Bay of Bengal.
Specifically this past year a team of us (all from Assam) have been working in five districts to understand the concerns better. We want to present what they want to say to Government and policymakers, and are already doing so.
The response has been good in documenting the way people live and use the river for daily livelihood including the kind of boats they ply.
Bearing these facts in mind, we have set to working on them at the Center for North East Studies and Policy Research. I see development of waterways and passenger/freight traffic as critical to the future of Assam and North East
First, I propose that we start thinking of funding a few rubber dinges which we can hand over to responsible persons selected by C-NES, which has worked in these areas with dedication for over a year. These boats can be used for rescue operations during the flood season. They should be equipped with oars and life jackets. These are apparently available in India and if I get a positive response from you, I will check out the costs so that these can be purchased.
Secondly, as an innovative effort to capture the imagination of people and show practical ways of initiating such policies/strategies, I suggest that C-NES have a mobile, floating office in terms of a sturdy, safe vessel, anchored in Guwahati but built in Assam with indigenous technology driven by powerful engines, equipped with proper cabins, navigation equipment and life-saving equipment (life jackets etc.) which can move from place to place showing educative films at various ghats, carrying the sick if necessary to a nearby hospital, (we can even hire a doctor for the critical flood months) and spread the message of sanitation and safe drinking water.
I look forward to your responses. Please on pass this note to other friends.
With regards
Sanjoy Hazarika
Managing Trustee, C-NES
PS I am currently in Shillong and have been since 8th Sept. because my mother had a bad fall at her home here and broke her upper thigh bone in several places. She is making a slow recovery � we are keeping our fingers crossed � thanks to a fine orthopedic surgeon and a remarkable kaviraj (herbal healer) from the Garo hills. The pain is no longer there and the bone is healing. So we are hopeful.
From
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