GUWAHATI:
There seems to be no respite in sight for Assam’s Dima Hasao, as the situation went from bad to worse on May 16, with torrential rains causing further damage to rail and road connectivity in different parts of the hill district.
The continuous rainfall in the area has caused landslides at many new locations, with the New Haflong Station now completely inundated with debris. An empty passenger train standing at the station has been washed off the tracks due to a massive landslide, and the number of breach locations have increased to 53 on Monday from 26 locations on Sunday. The only good news is that the restoration works at 11 locations have already been completed.
The district authorities on May 16 issued a notice to the public to inform that the road from Haflong town to Jatinga, where major damage took place in Mahur, Maibang and Langting, has been closed. The road connecting Harangajao-Silchar is also in dilapidated condition, and the one from Haflong town to Lower Haflong leading to Dehangi, Diyungbra-Lanka has also been closed.
The incessant rain on Monday led to further landslides and waterlogging at several locations in the Lumding – Badarpur hill section of Lumding division.
On Monday, 571 more stranded passengers at Ditokchera station were rescued, and the last evacuation special from KM 135 up to Badarpur and Silchar moved at 7:30 pm. With this the Northeast Frontier Railway has completed the evacuation of all the stranded passengers.
Having rescued and evacuated all the passengers, railways is now putting all its efforts into restoring the damaged line and re-starting the train services to South Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram.