SHILLONG: There was no semblance of urgency to tackle the Garo Hills flood situation on the part of the State Government as the review meeting on the matter was left to be headed by Additional Chief Secretary BK Dev Verma on Monday in the absence of Chief Minster, Ministers and Chief Secretary.
There was neither Chief Minister Mukul Sangma nor his Cabinet colleagues in the State capital to monitor the situation.
According to sources, the Chief Minister will make a ariel survey of the flood affected areas of Garo Hills on Tuesday.
Home Minister Roshan Warjri, Chief Secretary Barkos Warjri and Additional Chief Secretary KS Khropha left for New Delhi on Monday. Some other senior Government officials are also camping in Delhi.
Nobody was deputed by the Government to provide accurate information on the flood situation in Garo Hills and other parts of the state to the media.
When approached, the Additional Chief Secretary B K Dev Verma said that since he was too busy, information can be obtained from PK Srivastava, the Principal Secretary in-charge revenue and disaster management.
However when the media persons went to meet him on Monday evening, he was not available in his chamber.
The fury of the flood was unexpected as the Government and the district administration were not prepared for it. However, the West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Pravin Bakshi said that it is difficult to carry out rehabilitation of people before hand as no one can predict which villages will be affected by flood
