Floods leave a trail of destruction in Dhubri surpassing the record of 1988’s great flood

A Correspondent

DHUBRI: Flood has left a trail of devastation all around in Dhubri district which surpassed the record of 1988’s great flood level of 30.36 MTS in Dhubri. Thousands of flood-hit people are still living in relief camps as low-lying areas are under knee-deep water in Dhubri town. Nearly, 1.4 lakh people of Dhubri town have been affected by flood while 397 villages with population of 5,50,368 have been squarely hit by this unprecedented flood.

Officials informed that 32,371 people, including 7,575 children, had to leave their homes and took shelter in 96 relief camps across the district. Over hundreds of school buildings, Anganwadi centres, government offices, embankments, irrigation canals and bunds, PWD roads and culverts have been severely damaged.

Road link with rest of Assam from Dhubri was disrupted as both sides approach of a culvert at Ailengamari on NH-31 was washed away on July 23 due to overtopping stream of water from Gaurang River under Bilasipara subdivision of Dhubri district. Due to unprecedented flood, Dhubri District Jail had to be shifted to Dhubri Girls’ College on July 17 but an under trial prisoner (UTP) had escaped from the designated jail. However, within 56 hours the prisoner was re-arrested by Dhubri DSP (Head Quarter), Trinayan Bhuyan who led the team and conducted raids in several places of Dhubri, Goalpara and South Salmara-Mancachar districts. Amidst this, the 20th Kargil War Vijay Divas was celebrated as the Indian Army remembered its martyrs by distributing relief materials in various places of the district.

To express its solidarity with the victims affected by floods, to create awareness and to highlight the plight of the local populace, ‘Run for Assam’ was conducted by the unit of Red Horns Division in Hakama village of Dhubri on July 21. Over 120 service personnel of the Indian Army took part in ‘Run for Assam’. Army distributed relief materials like food packets and disinfectants among the flood-hit people.

The entire Dhubri district, including Dhubri town, headquarter of the district, also reeled under darkness as power supply was cut owing to submerging of transformers for six days from July 15. However, 13,400 electricity connections (town area) were restored within six days while same was restored in rest of the district in a week.

When contacted by Eastern Panorama, Dhubri Subdivisional Officer of APDCL, Rakesh Kumar Saha said, “I requested all my valued consumers to extend a helping hand in restoring the power supply of the greater Dhubri town and I am very happy to say that they responded positively, though there were some incidents where our field staffs had to bear the wrath and anger of the people.”

Also read: Floods in Assam: Beyond Embankments and Donations