Guwahati, Aug. 5 -- Two weeks after devastating floods killed at least 89 people and affected several lakhs of people in Upper Assam, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has sparked the debate over illegal coal, stone and sand mining along the Assam-Nagaland border, saying people living in some of the worst-affected areas depend on mining and must decide whether such activities should continue.

The remarks, made after Sarma visited flood-ravaged villages in Sivasagar district on August 4, have renewed scrutiny of what caused one of the worst floods to hit parts of Upper Assam in over seven decades. While opposition parties have blamed decades of illegal coal, stone and sand mining in Nagaland's hill catchments and downstream areas o...