AFP image
Guwahati:
The flood situation in Assam is improving with the water receding in many districts. The flood water had inundated 16 of 27 states in Assam, leaving more than 17 lakh displaced. Eighteen people have died in the flood and several are reported missing.
Assam's chief minister Tarun Gogoi cut short his six-day study tour in Japan and rushed back to India today amidst criticism for his absence during one of the worst floods in recent years. He left last Friday as part of the delegation of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers, even as the flood water was rising and the rainfall was above average.
Close to 18 lakh people have been affected across Assam. Lakhs of homes have been washed away, farmlands have submerged in water and standing crop has been destroyed, and major roads and bridges have been affected, severely hindering transportation. So far, 2.5 lakh people have sought refuge in the relief camps set up because even the relief camps have submerged in water. (Pics: Satellite images show extent of damage)
Majuli island - Asia's largest freshwater river island - has about 70 per cent of its land area submerged making it impossible for relief camps to be set up in this region.
However, in places where relief camps are present, camp inmates are complaining of inadequate facilities at the camp and the limited rationing of food being doled out. Some inmates have complained that a family of ten is sometimes just given a single cup of dal and the relief is restricted to rice and medicines.
Another concern at these camps is the threat of diseases from insects like mosquitos during the rainy season and inmates have complained about the the lack of mosquito nets at the camps.
Also at risk are the animals in the Kaziranga National Park, 80 per cent of which is under flood water. Over 10 animals have reportedly died, including the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. Taking advantage of the flood situation, poachers killed a one-horned rhinoceros and removed its horn. Another female rhino was left bleeding by the poachers after they sawed off her horn.
Angered by the poaching of the rhinos, residents and wildlife activists blocked Highway 37 and burned effigies of Tarun Gogoi and forest minister Rockybul Hussain, saying that the authorities had failed to protect the animals in the park.
Assam's chief minister Tarun Gogoi cut short his six-day study tour in Japan and rushed back to India today amidst criticism for his absence during one of the worst floods in recent years. He left last Friday as part of the delegation of the Empowered Group of State Finance Ministers, even as the flood water was rising and the rainfall was above average.
Close to 18 lakh people have been affected across Assam. Lakhs of homes have been washed away, farmlands have submerged in water and standing crop has been destroyed, and major roads and bridges have been affected, severely hindering transportation. So far, 2.5 lakh people have sought refuge in the relief camps set up because even the relief camps have submerged in water. (Pics: Satellite images show extent of damage)
Majuli island - Asia's largest freshwater river island - has about 70 per cent of its land area submerged making it impossible for relief camps to be set up in this region.
However, in places where relief camps are present, camp inmates are complaining of inadequate facilities at the camp and the limited rationing of food being doled out. Some inmates have complained that a family of ten is sometimes just given a single cup of dal and the relief is restricted to rice and medicines.
Another concern at these camps is the threat of diseases from insects like mosquitos during the rainy season and inmates have complained about the the lack of mosquito nets at the camps.
Also at risk are the animals in the Kaziranga National Park, 80 per cent of which is under flood water. Over 10 animals have reportedly died, including the endangered one-horned rhinoceros. Taking advantage of the flood situation, poachers killed a one-horned rhinoceros and removed its horn. Another female rhino was left bleeding by the poachers after they sawed off her horn.
Angered by the poaching of the rhinos, residents and wildlife activists blocked Highway 37 and burned effigies of Tarun Gogoi and forest minister Rockybul Hussain, saying that the authorities had failed to protect the animals in the park.
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