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Assam reeling under floods

Radha Das in Guwahati

Continuous rains have virtually laid siege to Guwahati. More than two-thirds of the capital city is submerged under waist-deep water. The heavy rains have resulted in landslides, claiming two lives. The city has virtually become a cesspool, overflowing with dirt, and there has been no let-up in the situation.

With the city meteorological office predicting more heavy rains on Saturday and Sunday, the situation looks grim. The hillocks in and around the city have virtually turned into mounds of mud due to deforestation, triggering periodic mud-slides during the rains.

More than 100,000 pilgrims visiting the Kamakhya temple have been badly hit by the incessant rains. Situated on the Nilachal hills, Kamakhya is one of the most important seats of tantrik and sakti worship. Every year on the occasion of Ambuvachi, thousands of practitioners of the tantrik cult and devotees throng this temple.

This time, rains have badly affected the hygiene and cleanliness in the area. The temple and municipal authorities are pleading helplessness.

More than 200,000 people in lower and upper Assam districts have been hit by this second wave of floods. In the lower Assam area, National Highway 31(c), which connects the north-east to the rest of India, was washed away at Kachugaon in Kokrajhar district. Several trucks are stranded. The rising waters of river Sankosh have damaged a concrete bridge on the highway.

According to a senior railway official, the river is overflowing near Bongaigaon, a crucial link for the north-east with the rest of India. "And, in the next 24 hours, the situation can worsen," he said, adding that little can be done about it.

In upper Assam, the world's largest river island Majuli is virtually fighting its last battle for survival against the steady onslaught of rain-fed erosion. The approach to another island, Neematighat, has already been gobbled by the Brahmaputra's fury.

Jorhat and Dibrugarh in upper Assam are also flooded. Flood monitoring authorities apprehend that the second wave will be much stronger than the first. In Dibrugarh, which is protected by a dyke, the Brahmaputra is flowing 1.40 metres above the danger level.

As usual, the flood-control department and the Brahmaputra board are mute spectators.

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