E-Paper
Grief grips Assam
The worst-ever flood to have hit the state following the breach in a reservoir in Bhutan has inundated almost entire lower Assam.
At first sight the water body ahead looks like an ocean as the Army driver gingerly manoeuvres his Shaktiman truck powering his way through the flood.
In reality the stretch is the national highway number 51 connecting Assam and the Northeast with the rest of the country which has been totally submerged by the river water making it difficult for a visitor to differentiate it from a huge lake.
This is the scene of the worst-ever flood to have hit the state following the breach in a reservoir in Bhutan on Sunday which had inundated almost entire lower Assam.
Both the Governor Lt Gen (retd) Ajai Singh and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi could not make an aerial survey due to inclement the weather as torrential rain continued to lash the state on Monday. Instead they took to the road but found it hard to even travel hardly 20 kms from the state capital here.
Singh's vehicle was stranded many times on the way while another vehicle carrying journalists stopped midway forcing the scribes to climb on an Army Shaktiman vehicle which followed the Governor's convoy.
To compound the miseries of the people, there was only one relief camp as the authorities found no place to construct another since the entire area was under water.
Thirty-year-old Urmila Kalita was seen weeping in a relief camp with her four month old infant saying she was unable to feed her child due to the sudden flood.
"It all happened in the night as we were asleep. A sudden rush of water swept our thatched house and with it all the belonging but thank god that we survived," she told a group of visiting journalists in the camp.
Kalita is one of the thousands who were seen building temporary shelters on the national highway where there was no water with their belongings.
Amidst the stench of the floods, people decided to remain hungry as there was no scope for cooking.
"We do not need relief materials. We need food to eat immediately to survive," cries a 12-year old boy who says he ate last afternoon. Kamalpur former legislator Moyidul Islam Bora said the people had been caught unawares as the area has never been flood prone. But due to the breach in the Bhutan reservoir, the entire area has been flooded and the people have no clue as to where to go, Bora added.
A former Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) minister, Bora complained to the Governor that no relief material had been arranged by the government and the people were staying under the open sky.
