TURA: The sitting member (MDC) of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council and BJP state president of the Minority Morcha, Sofiur Rahman has called upon the state and the central government to waive off the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loans of farmers who have lost their standing crops during last week’s floods in the plains belt of West Garo Hills district.
“Farmers in the plain areas had already planted the Sali paddy in their fields when the floods came destroying everything,” informed Balachanda MDC, Sofiur Rahman while speaking to The Shillong Times on Saturday.
He said that there were hundreds of farmers in the plain areas who have availed the KCC farm loans and the damage from the flood waters had destroyed their economy.
“Money to the tune of five crore rupees in loans have been availed by farmers in the plain belt of Garo Hills for cultivation of paddy but the rain has destroyed everything,” pointed out MDC Rahman.
The BJP state minority morcha president also called for a reassessment of the road projects in the plains belt in view of the destruction caused by the flood waters.
Referring to the newly sanctioned 3 km road from Faisakhandi to Magurmari in the Phulbari-Rajabala area which witnessed extensive flooding, the BJP MDC said that the earth and gravel layer that had only recently been completed, was now fully eroded due to the flood waters.
“The government should not undertake the black topping of the road before a fresh layer of earth work is undertaken,” said Rahman.
Garo Hills had witnessed extensive flooding and landslides caused by incessant rain that lashed the region from the 10th of this month. Flooding took place in the low lying areas of Baghmara and its adjoining areas in South Garo Hills district.
The impact of the rain in the upper reaches of neighbouring Assam caused flood waters to enter the plain areas of West Garo Hills by the evening of August 13th forcing several thousand people to abandon their dwelling homes and move to higher ground.
Initial survey pointed to 140 villages with a population of 1.2 lakh being impacted by the floods in the plain areas. As many as 24 relief camps were set up to house the displaced people and gratuity relief was provided to the camp inmates.