- Essentials air dropped, power supply shut and prisoners evacuated
Sept. 24: The flood scene in Upper
Assam worsened today with Majuli in Jorhat district almost submerged.
Food and essentials were air dropped in the island and Sadiya
subdivision of Tinsukia district.
The Jorhat
administration also sent supplies to Majuli by two special boats to
prevent a possible shortage after floods hit the Brahmaputra island last
Thursday. The Majuli subdivisional administration evacuated 41
prisoners of the jail in the island to Central Jail Jorhat in a special
boat as floodwaters inundated a large portion of the prison.
The situation in
Tinsukia improved slightly with the water level in all the three major
rivers beginning to recede. It remained unchanged in lower Assam with
the water level in the rivers not showing any receding trend.
Official sources
said about 200 of the 243 villages under 20 gaon panchayats in Majuli
have been under water, affecting about 1.8 lakh people and over 30,000
hectares of agricultural land. Power supply to the island has been shut
down since last night as a precautionary measure, leading to snapping of
mobile phone communication.
Jorhat deputy commissioner R.C. Jain told The Telegraph today
that the situation had worsened with almost entire Majuli being
submerged. He said relief and rescue measures were on with the local
administration distributing materials on boats and the State Disaster
Response Force team being deployed to search for marooned people.
An Indian Air
Force helicopter, with Jorhat subdivisional officer (Sadar) Gurpreet
Singh Panisar on board, dropped one tonne of rice, one tonne of flat
rice, jaggery and medicine packets in five locations of the island this
afternoon. “We could fly only one sortie because of unfavourable
weather. Tomorrow we will try again,” Panisar said.
Jain said two
boats carrying 2,000 quintals of rice, 200 quintals of dal and medicines
were sent from Neematighat (Jorhat) to Majuli today. A consignment of
500 kits, comprising food items, medicines, utensils and tarpaulin
offered by the Red Cross Society, reached here from Guwahati today and
will be sent to Majuli. A team of doctors and paramedical staff will be
sent to the island within a day or two. Power supply was restored for a
few hours earlier in the day but was suspended in the afternoon as a
preventive measure, he added.
In Tinsukia
district, the water level in the three major rivers — Luit, Lower Dihing
and Dibang —was receding. Tinsukia deputy commissioner S.S. Meenakshi
Sundaram said the situation had improved slightly and there were no
further reports of floods affecting new areas.
He said an IAF
helicopter made four sorties to Sadiya subdivision and dropped food and
medicines in Amarpur. The helicopter also airlifted food and medicine to
Chapakhowa (headquarters of Sadiya) to be distributed locally by the
administration. Besides, a boat carried 1,000 litres of diesel, 200 LPG
cylinders and 20 quintals of dal to the subdivision. Altogether 120
villages have been affected and 60 relief camps opened.
The DC said a
magisterial inquiry had been ordered into yesterday’s boat capsize at
Hatibat near Barekuri area under Doomdooma revenue circle in which three
children drowned and one went missing. Additional deputy commissioner
Arup Arandahra will conduct the probe.
In west Assam, the
flood situation in Kamrup (rural), Nalbari, Barpeta and Baksa remained
unchanged with the water level in the rivers not showing any receding
trend.
Sources said three
more embankments were breached today — at Balijhar in Nalbari by the
Mara Pagladiya river, at Rangiya in Kamrup (rural) by the Nona and at
Goreswar in Baksa by the Pagladiya.
According to
official reports, nearly 60,000 people of 55 villages have been affected
in Rangiya, Hajo, Nalbari and Baksa districts.
With the Puthimari
flowing through the gaps in the embankment it had breached during the
last floods, most areas of Rangiya subdivision in Kamrup (rural)
district have been submerged. The river has since changed course and has
been flowing over NH 31 at Bangalikuchi locality since last night.
Flood affected
people of 10 villages under Barama revenue circles in Baksa district
protested against the administration’s failure in providing flood relief
material. More than 1,000 flood-affected people carrying dishes,
glasses and bowls in their hands blocked NH 31 at Suradi in protest
against the admi-nistration’s indifferent attitude.
In Kaziranga National Park, there were unconfirmed reports of poachers killing a rhino and removing its horn.
“Our vets have
been sent to the site but as the rhino is lying under water we cannot
say for sure whether the death has been caused by poachers or by flood
waters,” park director Sanjib Bora said.
He said of the 152
anti-poaching camps in the park, two to six feet of water was flowing
under 116 camps and 16 camps had to be evacuated today. The toll of
animals killed by the floods has risen to seven. Anthony Thangcho, a
CWRC vet attached to Wildlife Trust of India said the carcasses of seven
animals (five hog deer, a wild boar and an elephant calf) had been
found.
The Indian
meteorological department, Guwahati division, said there would be
moderate to heavy rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh and heavy rainfall in
the Pasighat area in the next 24 hours. Pasighat witnessed 97.4mm of
rainfall from September 23 (8.30am) to September 24 (8.30am).
Criticising Dispur
for its indifference, the AGP demanded that the Centre send
representatives to take stock of the situation and release a special
package for rescue and relief operations.
Lambasting chief
minister Tarun Gogoi’s decision to tour Japan in such trying times, AGP
president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said, “At a time when floods have taken
a toll on people’s lives and property, the chief minister is away on an
overseas tour. The CM’s decision to invest public money on a foreign
tour remains a mystery when people are battling a natural calamity.”
(News from The Telegraph India online news)
-Abakash Majuli
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