CM visits flood hit Karimganj and Cachar
HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, July 1: Assam’s flood situation remained grim on Friday with 14 more people losing their lives in the last 24 hours and over 29 lakh still affected, officials said.
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Most parts of Cachar district headquarters, Silchar, were still waterlogged, they said.
The death toll due to floods and landslides this year increased to 173, according to a bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).
An inter-ministerial central team (IMCT) of the Union Home Ministry is in the state and they visited some flood-affected areas during the day and have also planned to do the same on Saturday.
The team has been divided into two groups with one visiting Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj and the other going to Nalbari, Bajali, Kamrup and Morigaon to assess the damage caused by the floods, according to a press release.
Several parts of Silchar, including Meherpur, Vivekananda Road, Das Colony, Ambicapatty, Church Road, Chandicharan Road, Bilpar, Public School Road, Subhash Nagar and NS Avenue areas, remained under floodwater.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday once again visited the flood hit Barak valley and asked the district administration of Karimganj and Cachar to reach out to people and expeditiously carry out survey to assess the number of houses and fisheries damaged by flood to enable the government to undertake rehabilitation and reconstruction works at the earliest.
Chief minister Sarma also visited the badly affected Kalibari and Gopikanagar areas of Ratabari Constituency in Karimganj which bore the brunt of the flood and interacted with the people. He also visited a relief camp set up at Subhash High School and talked to the inmates taking shelter there. He asked DC Mridul Yadav to ensure that there is no shortage of any relief materials including medicines and baby food for the camp inmates. He also asked the DC to take necessary steps of medical intervention for a few elderly camp inmates.
Meanwhile, during his third visit to flood hit Silchar, the chief minister made a visit to the relief camp that has been set up at the Gurcharan College premises and interacted with the inmates who have taken refuge there. The chief minister also visited the medical camp that has been set up within the college compound for the benefit of those who have taken shelter at the relief camp. Further, he directed the concerned officials to ensure the inmates have access to proper sanitation, drinking water, nutritious food, etc., during their stay in the camp.
Later, the chief minister, at a ceremony held at the deputy commissioner’s office, distributed ex-gratia relief in the form of cheques to the next-of-kin of 10 deceased who lost their lives in the recent flood. The chief minister stated the process of granting relief to family members of the rest of the deceased has begun and soon, they too would be granted the ex-gratia amount.
Cachar deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli said work is going on to repair the damaged portion of the dyke breached at Bethukundi which led to the waterlogging in the town.
Work is also underway to repair the damaged dyke at Barjuri in Katigorah revenue circle of Cachar district, she said.
She said priority is being given to reach the affected people with drinking water and food, while medical camps are being set up by the health department in all the 28 municipal wards to ensure the prevention of water-borne diseases.
Meanwhile, 2,450 villages under 88 revenue circles have been affected by the deluge across the state, while 3,03,484 people have taken shelter in 563 relief camps, according to the bulletin.
Relief materials were distributed from 331 delivery points among flood-hit people who have not taken shelters in the temporary facilities.
Among the worst-affected districts are Cachar with 14,31,652, followed by Nagaon with 5,19,463 and Barpeta with 4,00,502.
Two embankments were breached, one each in Biswanath and Udalguri, while 221 roads, five bridges and 557 houses have been damaged due to the floods.
A cultivated area of 63,314.75 hectares has been inundated, while 795 animals were washed away.
Large-scale erosion was also reported from Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Dhubri, Jorhat, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri, the bulletin added. (With inputs from PTI)
