Woes of storm hit continue in Barak Valley
A CORRESPONDENT
SILCHAR, May 2: Owing to the heavy rainfall and hailstorm that hit Silchar two nights ago, residents of the town had to face many problems. Though electricity has been restored, some people are striving to cope up with the pathetic situation. People from all sections are complaining about the problems that they had to face.
Shukla Das, a 50 year old widow, who works as a house cleaner, said, “The poor section of the society has to bear the wrath of ture. The power-cuts forced my family into consuming contamited water from a pond. The pond is not in our vicinity. My son warned me against drinking this water.” She added her family could not afford to buy 20 litres water gallons nor mineral water. “One can survive without electricity, but not without water. We are having candles. Kerosene oil also costs high,” she said in a tearful voice. Like her, the residents of Panchayat Road have to depend on this pond for getting water.
The poor people are not always at the epicentre of such storms; a well-to-do family too has to bear ture’s fury. tural calamities often engulf everyone. Chabi Roy Choudhury, 65, wife of a paralytic patient, “We cook food on induction oven. When there is a major and prolonged power-cut, we have to starve. We are not having gas cylinders also.” Her husband is wheel chair-bound and was an employee in the accounts section of the Assam Rifles. Since his retirement, the Roy Choudhury family is jostling with hard times. She added to say that her husband had retired some eight years ago and thus family income has come down.
“Most of the times, ATMs remain out of order or closed. What can a person do in such situations?” showing her concern regarding the available facilities during emergency cases. Like Shukla Das and Chabi Roy Choudhury, there are many persons who have been victims of ture’s wrath. In both the cases, adverse situation made them crippled.
Since the last few days, many parts of Barak Valley has been reeling under darkness. It is not the first time that Barak Valley is facing ture’s fury. Last month, the denizens of this part of Assam witnessed this brazen dance of ture.
Due to the heavy storm, Silchar and its surrounding areas remained in darkness and it has come to the notice of The Sentinel that many poor people have also lost their homes in the storm.
Adding to the woes, the semester examition has begun and it is becoming difficult for the young college students to prepare for their exams. Regular power-cuts and acute shortage of water have made life miserable for the residents of the town.
“Our exam is going on. You just put yourself in my position. On the one hand, load shedding and on the other hand irregular supply of water is making our lives miserable. But nobody cares for us,” said Subhrangshu Dutta a third semester student. He added that each year in the month of April they face similar situation.
The fact of the matter is our officials wake up only when they realise that the situation has taken a dangerous turn. For the sake of an argument every year during monsoon Shillongpatty, Das Colony and other parts of Silchar town faces the problem of water logging. Despite many parties forming their board, this raging crisis remains unsolved.
