GUWAHATI:
The death toll in the state of Assam due to floods has gone up to 108 with seven more deaths reported by an official bulletin of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on June 23.
The flood situation is said to have improved slightly in some places though 30 districts are still reeling under floods with 45,34,048 people from 4,536 villages affected by the floods, the report said.
The damage has been extensive with a total of 100869.76 hectares of cropland rendered useless. To aid those affected by the floods, 759 relief camps and 636 relief distribution centres have been opened in the districts, and a total of 284,875 people have been taking shelter in these relief camps.
The situation in the Cachar district remained critical, and to combat the situation, 200 personnel of eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) along with 12 Bn NDRF Itanagar and 12 3rd Bn NDRF Bhubaneswar have been deployed in Barak Valley district for rescue and relief operations.
A team of the Indian Army and nine boats have also been deployed in Silchar. In addition to this, 10 CRPF personnel with two high-speed boats, and four SDRF personnel with four boats have been deployed in the Cachar district for relief and rescue operations.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made an aerial survey of Silchar town and other parts of Cachar district to take stock of the situation.
Later, Sarma chaired a meeting with the senior officers of the government, NDRF and SDRF officials at the conference hall of the DC office in Silchar to take stock of the relief and rescue operations.
During the meeting, the chief minister asked the district administration to prepare ward wise micro-level plans with the help of local people, and public representatives for Silchar town so that relief and rescue operations can be carried out properly with intensity. He asked DC to make sure that there is no scarcity of food in the district, and also directed senior officials to make an extensive survey to take stock of the latest situation.
The chief minister also asked the district administration to take necessary steps for air-dropping of food items to meet the needs of the public, and to increase the strength of manpower in the district, 10 officers were asked to go to the Cachar district to expedite the rescue and relief measures.
Sarma also directed APDCL officials to take immediate steps to restore electricity in all parts of the district.
Talking to reporters, Sarma said that to tide over the unprecedented crisis unleashed by the flood, the state government is helping the district administration in all possible ways. For the restoration of electricity, engineers from Guwahati have been directed to report to Silchar. To address the scarcity of drinking water, the government will give at least one lakh drinking water to the district.