Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi on Friday launched an indefinite sit-in at the Assam Assembly premises demanding enhanced compensation for flood-affected people in four eastern districts.
Gogoi said the protest would continue until the government agreed to his demands, including Rs 10 lakh compensation for each flood-affected family in Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat.
"My indefinite satyagraha shall continue in the premises of the Assam Legislative Assembly against the state government until it fulfils the pledge of providing Rs 15,000 as one-time interim financial assistance to the flood-affected people of four districts and an additional Rs 10,000 to the flood-affected people of two districts," Gogoi said in a social media post.
"I shall not call off the indefinite agitation until the government agrees to our demands," he said.
Sarma, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an election rally in Nagaon, claimed Gogoi was attempting to take credit for the assistance that the government would provide.
"Akhil Gogoi knows that the government will give flood assistance. He is doing this to claim the credit for it," he said.
The chief minister said teachers were conducting surveys to assess the damage and that he had informed Gogoi that 55,000 families had already been identified for assistance.
"I have been keeping him in the loop, and he knows everything. His aim is to claim when assistance is provided that he made it possible. This is the level of politics of small children, which we did in class 5-6," Sarma said.
Gogoi had on Thursday announced the indefinite agitation, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, alleging that the state government had failed to distribute the flood relief funds it had announced.
He had claimed that 30-40 per cent of flood-affected families in the four districts had not received the promised Rs 15,000 interim assistance.
He had also claimed that in Sivasagar and Charaideo, among the worst-affected districts, no flood-affected resident had received the additional Rs 10,000 special relief.
At least 108 people died in the floods in Assam this year, while houses, schools, roads, embankments, cattle sheds, fisheries and health centres were among the infrastructure damaged in the affected areas.
(With inputs from PTI)