TURA, Oct 6: The current deluge in Garo Hills claimed another five lives in three separate incidents in two separate districts.
In the first incident, a teacher and his minor son were washed away while trying to get to Tura from South Garo Hills when their vehicle met a strong current which dragged them into the nearby Bugai river. The incident took place on Friday evening though the bodies were only recovered on Sunday morning by disaster management personnel and local security forces.
According to reports, one car was retrieved from the water body at Sonagre village near Dimapara. It was initially reported that the occupants of the vehicle managed to escape but it was later learnt they had gone missing since 5:30 pm on Friday.
Bijoy S Sangma (44) and his minor son Weanchigado R Marak (13) of Rongkhon Songgital, Tura were coming from Nagrajora, Sempara in a Wagon R (WB 06 7718) towards Tura. However after crossing the Bugai RCC bridge and reaching Sonagre village on NH 217, the strong current carried away the car into the nearby deep water body. The car was recovered on Saturday while the bodies of the father and son were retrieved on Sunday morning.
In the second incident, a car travelling towards Rongjeng in East Garo Hills from Dalu in West Garo Hills was crushed after a tree in the Songsak Reserve fell on the vehicle late Saturday evening. The driver of the vehicle was killed on the spot while four other occupants of the car received severe injuries. One minor, who was in the car, is said to have suffered head injuries. All the injured persons were rushed to the Williamnagar Civil Hospital where they are undergoing treatment.
Meanwhile, continued rains in Rongjeng in EGH led to a mother – daughter being buried alive in a landslide on Saturday leading to their deaths. The bodies of the two were recovered on Sunday morning. The incident took place in the village of Gongdop under Rongjeng C&RD Block. Situation improves but body count rises
According to latest reports, the grim situation faced by residents of Garo Hills has ebbed with rains finally relenting. However with water still to completely go down many were still stuck in various relief camps in the three districts of Garo Hills which have been ravaged over the past three days.
The three worst hit districts, South Garo Hills, West and South West Garo Hills all received almost no rainfall allowing for relief efforts to finally take off. However many villages still remained cut off from the rest of the world leaving them still struggling. While data for the district of South Garo Hills is still not available, the administration has been going out of its way to ensure everyone is covered when providing relief.
As per the latest reports, WGH Deputy Commissioner Jagdish Chelani informed that at least 8,000 people across the Dalu C&RD Block have been provided relief. The numbers of those affected however is likely to increase as connectivity to some areas is still to be established.
“We have provided 5 days of GR to those affected and will also be providing clothes as this is what the people required. Clothes will be reaching Dalu on Monday after which it will be distributed. No one was prepared for what happened but we did the best we could to ensure no one is left out,” informed the DC.
South Garo Hills, which has been the worst affected district saw efforts at relief, finally take off despite the fact the network connectivity is yet to be fully established.
“Our first priority was to ensure the bodies of those killed in the village of Atisia Songmong were recovered. The team has confirmed that six of the seven bodies have been recovered and search for the last one will begin on Monday. The NDRF and other teams are on the spot to ensure that happens,” informed SGH Deputy Commissioner, Richard Yanthan.
Yanthan further added that people from all C&RD Blocks were being provided relief as and when required to get their lives back to normal.
“We are still compiling the information on the total numbers affected and this will be available hopefully by Monday. Many places are still out of reach due to the devastating nature of what happened but we should be back to normalcy in the next few days. I would like to appeal to all to come forward if there is any requirement for relief materials as everyone needs to come together at this time,” said Yanthan.
In SWGH, things were almost back to normal though the administration is still continuing its support for those affected through GR. More than 2,500 people have been affected in the district.
