Wounds fresh, floods revisit NE
DELUGE Rail link between region and the rest of the country snapped after railway tracks get damaged; over 20 trains cancelled on Sunday
Heavy rainfall since Thursday resulted in flooding across 21 of Assam’s 33 districts, claiming 15 lives – 10 in the past 24 hours – and affecting more than 22 lakh people.
Floods also affected normal life in Tripura, forcing 9,917 families to take shelter in 75 relief camps. An 11-year-old girl drowned in state capital Agartala, while another person was electrocuted elsewhere.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal termed the second wave of deluge since July as the “worst floods in decades”. The first wave had claimed 84 lives in Assam and another 62 across Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland between May and July.
With Saturday’s casualties, the death toll since May has touched 161.
In an emergency meeting on Sunday, the Assam government asked the Army to help with the rescue and relief operations and put Indian Air Force choppers on standby.
Additional personnel of national and state disaster response forces were deployed in the affected districts to rescue marooned people.
According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), more than 1.83 lakh people displaced in the recent floods are taking shelter in 678 relief camps across the state.
The Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger level at Neematighat, Tezpur, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri. Ten other rivers across the state are also flowing above the red mark at one place each.
“Flood waters have submerged 2,734 villages and more than 1.34 lakh hectare of crop area affected. Erosion and breaches of embankments have been reported in 11 districts,” an ASDMA officer said.
Parts of the national highway 37 connecting western and eastern Assam got submerged at Jakhalabandha, 175 km east of Guwahati, on Sunday morning disrupting movement of vehicles for several hours.
Rail link between northeast and the rest of the country also snapped on Sunday after railway tracks got submerged or damaged at several places in Assam and West Bengal due to flooding.
“A number of trains had to be stopped at various stations, and many other trains had to be cancelled or rescheduled or shortterminated,” Pranav Jyoti Sharma, spokesperson of Northeast Frontier Railway said.
Railway authorities cancelled 20 trains on Sunday causing distress to thousands of passengers.
Defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneet Newton said army personnel rescued some 3,000 marooned people in western and central Assam districts.
Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar and revenue minister Badal Choudhury visited floodprone areas on the banks of river Haora on Saturday and ordered officials to monitor the situation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, was not convinced with the efforts and accused the state government of selectively providing relief material to victims in camps run by the CPI(M) cadre. It also announced a 24x7 flood helpline.
10,000-acre crop in the Mand area of the district has been submerged with the rise in the water level of the Beas and Sutlej rivers.
With heavy rain predicted in the coming days, high flood risk looms large over another 20,000 acres of agricultural land and houses in 62 villages in the area.
The Sutlej and Beas supply water to tributaries spanning over 86km in Tarn Taran. There is around 30,000 acre farmland along the banks of these rivers in Mand from Goindwal Sahib in Khadoor Sahib sub-division to Kot Budha in Patti sub-division.
After rise in the water level of two rivers, though the administration has geared up its efforts to save the farmland from flood water by erecting temporary bunds on the critical points of the rivers, the farmers term this as merely an eyewash.
The farmers in the area complain they have been suffering due to floods since 1988, but the successive governments paid no heed to the situation, despite their repeated representations.
“Every year, crop on thousands of acres gets damaged in flood, but no one cares. The government gives only ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 per acre as compensation, which is not enough to make the ends meet,” said Mundapind sarpanch Paramjit Singh.
The Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) will join the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in evacuation and rescue operation in flood-hit districts of Bihar, even as no casualty was reported so far.
Of Bihar’s 38 districts, Kishanganj, Araria and Purnia were the worst affected, with floodwaters also partially affecting Katihar and Narkatiaganj town in Bettiah, West Champaran district.
While one column of Army personnel had moved from Danapur to Kishanganj on Sunday, three more were expected to be airlifted from Ranchi on Monday. The Army contingent from Ranchi would move to Purnia.
Besides, 10 additional teams, each comprising 40-45 personnel of the NDRF, were also being deployed in Kishanganj, Purnia and Araria to strengthen the existing 9, NDRF battalion. A team each of NDRF has already been deployed in East and West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Supaul and Purnia districts, while two teams have been positioned at Kishanganj.
The Centre’s intervention comes after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday. The CM also spoke to public representatives to assess the situation there.
Addressing mediapersons on Sunday, Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said the state had also requested the Centre for choppers to assist in evacuation and rescue. Airlifting of the marooned would begin from Kadamkhadi in Baisa block of Purnia district.
21 OF ASSAM’S 33 DISTRICTS AFFECTED. NEARLY 3,000 VILLAGES SUBMERGED AND
MORE THAN 1.34 LAKH HECTARE OF CROPS DESTROYED