Millennium Post

Landslides snap road, rail links to southern Assam, parts of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur

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GUWAHATI/HAFLONG: Surface links to Assam’s Barak Valley and Dima Hasao district and neighbouri­ng states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur remained snapped on Tuesday as incessant rains triggered landslides and washed off roads as well as railway tracks in multiple locations of Assam and Meghalaya.

Landslides in different locations in Assam’s Dima Hasao district disrupted road as well as rail connectivi­ty. In Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district landslides cut off road communicat­ion to Barak Valley in southern Assam and vital parts of the three northeaste­rn states.

East Jaintia Hills police have alerted about fresh landslides under its jurisdicti­on.

There has been a fresh landslide in Kuliang village on NH-06 on Tuesday morning. The route from Silchar-ratachera-khliehriat is blocked. Efforts are on to clear the same and necessary assistance is being provided to stranded passengers, it tweeted.

Assam Police’s Special Director General G P Singh asked the public to avoid using the route till the roadblock is cleared. “Please avoid travelling from Silchar towards Guwahati till the road block is cleared,” he tweeted. An official bulletin said communicat­ion channels have been snapped in Dima Hasao since Sunday due to the heavy rains.

Landslides and road cave-ins at different locations have led to disruption of road communicat­ion to the district.

A Northeast Frontier Railway spokespers­on said landslides and waterloggi­ng on tracks in the Lumding Badarpur section have snapped train communicat­ion to Barak Valley, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram.

Work to restore the railway line is on at a war footing, he added. With the disruption in road and rail connectivi­ty, airfare has shot up.

Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy, who rushed to his constituen­cy tweeted: “With railways and roadways disrupted due to heavy rains and landslides I am stunned to see #silchar-#guwahati airfare reach 31000/- for a 25 min flight of 300km ! This issue of ticket pricing needs to be addressed immediatel­y!” he wrote, tagging the Prime Minister and his office, the Civil Aviation minister and the Airport Authority of India.

Assam is reeling under floods with around two lakh people in 20 districts affected so far.

Two flood-related deaths have been reported, while another five persons have died in landslides in the current wave of floods.

Meanwhile, landslides triggered by heavy rains wreaked havoc in Arunachal Pradesh, snapping connectivi­ty in many areas, officials said on Tuesday.

Road connectivi­ty between Itanagar and Ziro in Lower Subansiri district via Potin was disrupted after a massive landslide blocked the road, they said.

Hundreds of vehicles were stranded as road clearing operations were underway, they added.

The road from Itanagar to Gohpur in Assam was also blocked due to mud slips. Landslides were also reported from Karsingsa block point along the Itanagar-banderdewa NH-415, Itanagar Gompa and RWD Colony here, officials said.

The whereabout­s of the woman, who along with two others were buried alive in a landslide at Punjabi Dhaba on Sunday night, is yet to be known even after more than 40 hours of search operations, police said.

Inclement weather is hampering the rescue operation with more landslides reported at the spot, they said.

Two PWD labourers were also buried in a landslide at Ganga-jully Basti Road on Monday afternoon while trying to extricate a motorcycle stuck in the mud. Taking stock of the situation, Chief Minister Pema Khandu appealed to all to take precaution­ary measures, especially those living along river banks and streams, and in landslide-prone areas.

The India Meteorolog­ical Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an Orange alert in nine districts in Kerala for Tuesday while it issued the same for seven districts on Wednesday indicating heavy rainfall.

Even though the Red alert, which indicates extremely heavy rainfall, issued in the last few days in various districts has been withdrawn, various weather forecastin­g centres in the country have predicted isolated heavy rains across the state. The IMD issued an Orange alert on Tuesday for the districts of Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod. However, for Wednesday, there is no Orange alert for Ernakulam and Idukki.

 ?? PTI ?? Villagers wade through a flooded road after showers at a village in Nagaon district, on Tuesday
PTI Villagers wade through a flooded road after showers at a village in Nagaon district, on Tuesday

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