Bhutan helping clear water supply blockage to Assam, says Chief Secretary Sanjay Krishna

Guwahati: Kumar Sanjay Krishna, the Chief Secretary of Assam, took to Twitter to clarify that Bhutan is not blocking water supply to India. Instead, people from the neighbouring country are helping to clear the blockage, he said.

Sanjay Krishna in a tweet said that the water supply is being blocked because of the natural blockage of the informal irrigation channels which the Indian fields are dependent on.

"Recent media reports about Bhutan blocking water supply to India has been incorrectly reported. The actual reason being the natural blockage of informal irrigation channels into Indian fields! Bhutan has been actually helping to clear the blockage", the Chief Secretary wrote in a tweet. 

At the same time, Bhutan has also denied the validity of the reports that suggest the country has stopped releasing water for an irrigation channel along its border with Assam.

It needs mention here that there have been several reports according to which, Bhutan has stopped releasing water for an irrigation channel along the Indo-Bhutan border in Assam.

The Chief Secretary's clarification has come at a time when many parts of the state are reeling under floods. Amid the worsening flood situation in Assam, one more person -- this time from Dhemaji's Sissiborgaon -- has been died due to drowning in the past 24 hours, confirmed the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA).

With the continuance of torrential downpours in the nine districts of Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, and Tinsukia, 1,89,314 persons have been affected and 19,430 hectares of cropland has been submerged under floodwaters. Meanwhile, 49 relief camps have been opened where 11,468 people are taking shelter.

Meanwhile, the water level of the Brahmaputra river continues to rise unabated in Guwahati as the urban area has been witnessing heavy downpour for the last few days.

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