Dyke breach prompts alert in Majuli :

Jorhat, July 16: The Majuli administration is on an alert after the Brahmaputra breached a portion of the embankment at Sonowal Kachari near the eastern tip of the island, flooding over 10 villages.

Just last month, a breach in the same embankment wreaked havoc on the island and flooded 30 villages with the Salmora area being badly hit.

Sources in the sub-divisional administration said the water level of the Brahmaputra kept rising all through yesterday, and eventually water gushed in through the 200-metre-long breach.

Preliminary work by the water resources department to repair the embankment began last week. The plan was to build a cofferdam near the breach but work had to be called off after the sudden rise in water level, sources said.

Majuli Sub-divisional officer (civil) Sonaram Khanikar told The Telegraph that about 10 villages under Luitporia gaon panchayat were partially submerged. Water entered the compounds of the houses in the villages, roughly affecting around 10,000 people, Khanikar said. In a few houses water had entered the houses.

The SDO said so far the situation had not turned grim and people were not forced to leave their houses. If the situation demanded, relief materials would be provided to the families, he said.

Khanikar said the administration had sufficient food and medicine stocks in Majuli and contingency plans were ready to deal with a big flood. Adequate number of vehicles, boats, medical staff and manpower were ready to act in case of a flood, he said.

Khanikar said according to the latest reports received today from Dibrugarh, which lies east of the island, the water-level of the Brahmaputra in the upper Assam district was receding and if the same trend continued, then by tomorrow morning the water would move out of the island.

Ramakrishna Mission (Belur Math) has decided to offer a helping hand to Majuli’s flood-hit people. Talking to reporters at Ramakrishna Mission’s branch here today, Swami Gitatmananda, the secretary of the Narutamnagar branch (Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh) of the mission, said the organisation would distribute 5,000 tarpaulin sheets worth Rs 25 lakh to flood-hit families on the island from tomorrow.

He said last week, members of the mission conducted a survey in flood-hit areas of Majuli and distributed coupons to genuine flood-affected families so that they could collect relief materials from volunteers during the time of distribution.

The organisation had distributed about 200 kits containing blankets, mosquito nets, and biscuits to flood-affected families at Tengapani area in Tinsukia district last month.

 

(News from : The Telegraph Tuesday , July 17 , 2012 online news) 

-Abakash Majuli