Guwahati: Rail connectivity to Barak Valley in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura remained disrupted for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday due to large-scale damage to tracks in Assam following heavy rainfall and landslides since Friday.
With no likelihood of resumption of trains in the next few days, governments in Tripura and Mizoram have started rationing petroleum products in their states. Officials in both states and in Barak Valley, however, stressed that there is no immediate shortage of supply of food and other essentials.
According to the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), railway tracks in over 50 stretches in the Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam have been damaged “completely disrupting” rail communication to Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, and Barak Valley with the rest of the country.
“As of now there’s no immediate crisis, but in anticipation of shortage and people indulging in hoarding and black marketing, we issued an order on Monday directing petrol pumps to ration sale of petrol and diesel to consumers,” said Ramdinliani, director, Mizoram food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department.
She said that if rail connectivity to Mizoram isn’t restored within the next two-three weeks, there could be scarcity of petroleum products, rice and few other essentials which reach the state by trains. There was no threat of scarcity of all other goods, most of which come by road, Ramdinliani said.
{{/usCountry}}She said that if rail connectivity to Mizoram isn’t restored within the next two-three weeks, there could be scarcity of petroleum products, rice and few other essentials which reach the state by trains. There was no threat of scarcity of all other goods, most of which come by road, Ramdinliani said.
{{/usCountry}}On Tuesday, the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department in Tripura directed all petrol pumps in the state to ration sale of petroleum products. Officials informed that due to likelihood of supply of food, petroleum and other products getting affected, they are looking at alternative routes.
“Tripura has sufficient stock of essentials including fuel which is expected to last for some more days. We have taken stock of the matter. Work to restore railway connectivity is underway and hopefully it will resume soon,” director of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department of Tripura, Tapan Kumar Das, said.
Officials in Assam’s Barak Valley, which comprise of three districts, informed on Tuesday that there is adequate stock of food to last another three months and petroleum products will last another 10 days.
Due to disruption in road and rail connectivity, there’s been a sharp hike in price of flight tickets connecting Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar district in Assam, with Guwahati and Kolkata. Cachar deputy commissioner Keerthi Jalli said that there could be some announcement on Wednesday directing airlines not to hike prices of flight tickets.
“Continuous inclement weather coupled with difficult terrain is affecting restoration of damaged railway tracks. Once the weather becomes conducive, restoration work is expected to gain momentum. Till now, we have completed restoration work at 12 locations,” NFR CPRO Sabyasachi De informed.
The flood situation in Assam continued to remain grim on Tuesday. According to the bulletin issued by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), over 400,000 people in 26 districts are affected by floods.
Crops in nearly 33,000 hectares have been affected and nearly 40,000 displaced people are taking shelter in 89 relief camps in 13 affected districts. One more person died on Tuesday taking the total death toll due to floods to 6 till date.
According to the IMD office in Guwahati, light to moderate rain and in most places isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely very heavy rainfall accompanied by thunderstorm and lightning is expected in Assam and Meghalaya till Wednesday. Other states in the region are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall till May 21, it added.
A bulletin issued by Central Water Commission (CWC), stated that Kopili River in Assam continued to flow above the danger mark at Kampur in Nagaon district on Tuesday. Water levels of other rivers in the state, Barak, Kushiyara, Buridehing, Jia Bharali, Desang and Brahmaputra, continued to rise as well.
(With inputs from Priyanka Deb Barman in Agartala and Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha in Silchar)