Guwahati, Aug. 5 -- The devastating deluge that submerged upper Assam's Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Jorhat districts on July 19, before extending to Golaghat, has brought to light several new facts about the underlying causes of this tragedy. Through this article, I seek to warn the people of Assam about the powerful forces responsible for the indiscriminate plunder of natural resources-a plunder that has left lakhs of people in Upper Assam devastated and stripped of their homes and livelihoods.

I wish to highlight this issue by referring to an official letter.

On April 22 last year, Debabrata Saikia, the then Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly and former MLA from the Nazira Assembly constituency, wrote to the Chie...