Guwahati, July 30 -- Former Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly and ex-Nazira MLA Debabrata Saikia has alleged that the recent devastation caused by the Dikhow river is the result of years of illegal stone and sand mining, coupled with the state's failure to implement directions issued by the Gauhati High Court.

In a social media post accompanied by satellite images shared on social media, Saikia claimed that extensive extraction of stones and sand from the Dikhow riverbed had fundamentally altered the river's ecology, contributing to the severe flooding witnessed this monsoon in Nazira and adjoining areas.

He described the Dikhow, historically known as the "Vashistha Ganga", as a river whose natural flow had been...