Guwahati: A fresh wave of flood in Assam valley areas triggered by incessant rains in neighbouring hill states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Meghalaya have so far driven over 3.54 lakh people from 45 revenue circles from 15 districts out of their deluged homes.
The situation is worse in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Lakhimpur districts. The Brahmaputra River which is flowing above the red mar in Dibrugarh and Neamati ghat (Jorhat) is posing a grave threat to Dibrugarh town while it has submerged Guijan ghat in Tinsukia district. The Lakhimpur district is bearing the brunt due to release of water from the dam of Ranganadi Hydro-Power Project of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Ltd.
The flood situation may turn worse in the next few days with Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) predicting more rainfall in the North east especially in Meghalaya.
Meanwhile, the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (anti-talks faction) in a statement made though local TV channels here warned the NEEPCO authority of harsh consequences in case it failed to provide relief to flood hit people of Lakhimpur district where water released from the dam of Ranganadi power project has caused havoc. The ULFA leader fugitive Paresh Barua has also warned journalists and intellectuals who have denied to accept that NEEPCO was responsible for the misery of the flood hit in Lakhimpur district.
According to a report of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), several tributaries of Brahmaputra river including Buridihing, Dhansiri (South), Jia Bharali, Puthimari and Sankosh were flowing above the danger level while rain-fed Kolohi river has created havoc at Chaygaon area in Kamrup district.
The 15 districts so far affected due to the current wave of flood included Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Baksa, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, KOkrajhar, Dhubri, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia. Total crop area of over 19,000 hectares has been inundated so far across these districts.
A large portion of Kaziranga National Park located bang on the south bank of Brahmaputra River has once again been inundated forcing the Park authorities to set up coordination with NGOs to protect flood-hit animals.
The authorities have so far set up 39 relief camps and 14 relief distribution centres for the flood hot people. The number of relief camp inmates as on date stands at 13,743.
Meanwhile, at the instruction of the chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who is now in Delhi, the chief secretary of the state V K Pipersania today organized a video conference with the deputy commissioners of all the flood affected districts and directed them to take all possible measures to provide relief to the flood-hit people. The deputy commissioners have been directed to go and meet the worse flood-hit people.