5 more die as flood situation in Assam remains critical

1. 5 more die as flood situation in Assam remains critical The flood situation in Assam remained critical with five more persons losing their lives, while nearly 25 lakh people have been affected by the deluge in 23 districts, an official bulletin said on Sunday. Barpeta and Kokrajhar districts reported two deaths each and one fatality was reported from Morigaon district, according to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA). With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslide has gone up to 128 across the state. Of them, 102 were killed in flood-related incidents and 26 in landslides. Over 24.76 lakh people are hit due to floods in Dhemaji, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Darrang, Baksa, Nalbari, Barpeta, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Charaideo and Dibrugarh districts, the ASDMA said. Goalpara is the worst-hit with over 4.7 lakh people affected. In Barpeta, more than 3.95 lakh people were affected and in Morigaon, around 3.33 lakh people have been hit by the deluge. The SDRF, district administrations and locals have rescued 188 people in the last 24 hours by deploying 101 boats across the state. Till Saturday, more than 26.37 lakh persons were affected by the deluge across 27 districts. The Centre said it was in constant touch with the state government and has committed to offer all possible help to mitigate the flood situation. Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jitendra Singh said the centre is monitoring the situation. "Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) commits to extend whatever help possible for restoration and repair of damaged infrastructures in Assam, in the wake of incessant rains and floods. "We are in constant touch with the state government and CM Sarbanand Sonwal," Singh tweeted. At present, 2,265 villages were inundated and 1,12,667.06 hectares of crop area has been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA said. It further said that authorities were running 457 relief camps and distribution centres across 18 districts, where 45,912 people have taken shelter. The authorities have distributed 4,451.99 quintals of rice, dal and salt, and 1,256.34 litres of mustard oil along with other relief materials such as tarpaulin, baby food, candle, match box, mosquito net, biscuit, soap, drinking water, cattle feed, mask and wheat bran.

2. At several relief camps, people have complained about negligence by the authority and claimed that they had received foodgrain only once upon their arrival about a week back. In the southern part of Kamrup district, people rued the inaction of the authorities in saving their villages from massive erosion by the Brahmaputra river this year. The mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above danger mark at Dhubri and Goalpara cities, and also at Nimatighat in Jorhat and Tezpur in Sonitpur districts. Its tributaries -- Dhansiri at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road Crossing in Sonitpur, Kopili at Dharamtul in Nagaon, Beki at Road Bridge in Barpeta and Kushiyara at Karimganj town -- were also flowing above the danger levels. Embankments, roads and many other infrastructure have been damaged at various places in Barpeta, Bongaigaon and Morigaon districts. Massive erosion have been witnessed at different places of Chirang district, ASDMA said. The ASDMA bulletin stated that 91 camps out of 223 at Kaziranga National Park, 12 out of 40 camps at Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park and 16 out of 25 camps at Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary have been affected by the deluge. The deluge has so far claimed the lives of 129 different animals, while 157 others were rescued in Kaziranga National Park, the bulletin said quoting officials of the Eastern Assam Wildlife Division. The flood has also affected 22,43,454 domestic animals and poultry across the state during the last 24 hours, it added.