10 more dead in Assam floods, toll increases to 30
GUWAHATI: Human casualty due to floods in Assam has increased to 30 on Wednesday with 10 more bodies recovered from different parts of the state in the last 24 hours. Flood situation remained grim with number of people affected in the deluge increasing to over 57 lakh on Wednesday from about 52.59 lakh people on Tuesday.
All the 10 people died of drowning. Four bodies were retrieved from Morigaon, two each from Sonitpur and Udalguri and one from Nagaon districts.
Submergence of agricultural lands has increased to 1,73,312.12 hectare on Wednesday. Till Tuesday 1,63,969.02 hectare area of croplands was under water. The number of affected districts has come down to 29 on Wednesday from 30 on Tuesday. Barpeta in lower Assam remained the worst hit district since last week with 14.9 lakh people affected in the deluge. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), Brahmaputra and its tributaries continued to flow above danger mark at many places including in Guwahati. Katakhal and Kushiyara rivers in Barak valley are also flowing above danger level. ASDMA said that above 1.5 lakh flood displaced people were sheltered in 427 relief camps, while 392 centres have beenopened for relief distribution. As flood water recedes in Kaziranga National Park (KNP), more animal carcasses surfaced with death toll since July 13 going up to 51 on Wednesday. Two carcasses of rhinos were retrieved on Wednesday taking the death toll of the one-horned pachyderms to five so far. Four rhinos died of drowning and one got killed after falling in a pit.
Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal toured flood affected districts of Barak valley on Wednesday. Sonowal assured state government’s full assistance in relief and rehabilitation works.
Sonowal also appreciated Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for contributing Rs one crore each to Chief Minister Relief Fund and for the welfare of animals of Kaziranga National Park. Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that there is no shortage of fund in tackling the flood situation. Sarma, who reviewed the flood situation, said that all the departments were asked to submit their budget by July 26 for recovering the damages caused in the flood. "We have also asked the deputy commissioners to complete the process of disbursing the money to flood affected people including ex-gratia within the shortest possible time," Sarma said.
source: toi
