Ahead of his visit to Manipur today, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi arrived in Assam's Silchar city. He is expected to meet flood-affected people in Assam on Monday while enroute to violence-hit Manipur, a state party spokesperson said.
This will be his first visit to the Northeast after becoming the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi's visit to Assam comes as the state is battling severe floods due to days of torrential rainfall, causing landslides and overflowing rivers. About 22.70 lakh people in 28 districts were affected by the deluge.
Rahul Gandhi is slated to arrive at the Kumbhigram airport in Silchar in Assam's Cachar district in the morning. He is expected to visit a flood relief camp in Lakhipur and interact with the people who have taken refuge there, the spokesperson said.
The camp is on the route that Rahul Gandhi will take to Manipur's Jiribam district, he said.
Rahul Gandhi will return to Silchar airport in Assam from Jiribam, and fly to Imphal for the next leg of his Manipur tour. Since May 3 last year, Manipur has been witnessing ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities and over 200 people have died in clashes so far.
78 KILLED IN FLOOD-HIT ASSAM
Meanwhile, in Assam, a total of 78 people have died in this year's floods, landslides and storms in the state.
The flood-affected districts are Kamrup, Nagaon, Cachar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Morigaon, Hailakandi, Bongaigaon, South Salmara, Dibrugarh, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Hojai, Nalbari, Charaideo, Biswanath, Golaghat, Jorhat, Dhemaji, Barpeta, Sonitpur, Kokrajhar, Majuli, Kamrup (Metropolitan), Darrang, Sivasagar, Chirang and Tinsukia.
Nine rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Barak and its tributaries were flowing above the danger mark at many places in the state.
The water level of the Brahmaputra was flowing above the danger level in Neamatighat, Tezpur and Dhubri. The water level of the Brahmaputra was, however, receding in Guwahati.
Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited flood relief camps in Kamrup district to assess the impact of ongoing floods and oversee the distribution of relief to the affected people.
