TURA: North Garo Hills district remains the most distressed and affected region in Meghalaya following Sunday last’s devastating floods which has claimed the lives of several dozen civilians.
Despite a halt to the torrential rains on Tuesday, the entire North Garo Hills remains without any supply of electricity for the last seven days posing immense challenges for the rescue and relief operations in the hardest hit region of Meghalaya where the official death toll on Saturday has been put at 24 even as one more body has been reportedly washed ashore in Kharkutta region the same afternoon.
Road communication remains a bottleneck in the flood and landslide ravaged region with the national highway link being disrupted at nearby Krishnai town in Assam’s Goalpara district due to erosion of the approach road
and damage to a bridge.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Saturday afternoon, district additional magistrate David Sangma informed that the official death toll in the hardest hit region of North Garo Hills stood at 24 with Kharkutta area losing the most number of civilians in the disaster.
Out of the 24 casualties in the district, 20 civilians lost their lives in Kharkutta-Resubelpara region while another four died in Bajengdoba region.
Among the dead were nine children (six boys and three girls).
Meanwhile, compensation for the families of the victims has begun in right earnest on Friday and Saturday itself.
A sum of Rs. 1.5 lakh is being provided by the Meghalaya government for the families of those who lost their loved ones.
On Friday ex-gratia amount of Rs. 1.5 was each handed over to the family of two children who died at Bajengdoba region. The parents of the two deceased children are currently undergoing medical treatment at Rari health centre.
In the worst affected Kharkutta region of North Garo Hills, a sum of Rs. 1.5 lakh each was handed over to the families of 20 victims who lost their lives in the battle against nature’s fury.
Authorities are due to hand over compensation for two other victims’ families once the formal inquest and necessary paper works are cleared, latest by this week.