The Tennessee Valley Authority was created in 1933 to generate electric power and control floods along the Tennesse River, including by monitoring weather patterns and adjusting water management accordingly.

"We need to establish a cohesive, autonomous, self-contained entity on the lines of the Tennessee Valley (Authority)," Singh said in Guwahati, the main city of Assam state, where annual monsoon flooding of the mighty Brahmaputra river kills hundreds.

"It could be called the Brahmaputra Valley Authority or the Northeast Valley Authority," Singh said.

He said the proposed institution would develop river areas to provide effective flood control mechanisms, generate power and provide irrigation.

"Given managerial and financial autonomy with top-class manpower and backed by parliamentary sanction, such a body would be the instrument for transforming the region," Singh said.

According to official figures, 491 people were killed this year in floods in Assam while 13 million were displaced.

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