Guwahati-Silchar airfare jumps more than double

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: As incessant rains have not stopped, the southern part of Assam continued to be cut off from the rest of the country for the last two days. Fresh landslides were reported from the Lumshnong area making travelling on Jowai-Badarpur NH 6 impossible. Abhilash Baranwal, Deputy Commissioner of East Jaintia Hills restricted the movement of even light vehicles for two days. The movement of heavy vehicles was restricted from Wednesday till June 19. Baranwal said, due to continuous heavy showers over the last week, NH-6 had been damaged at multiple locations, especially from Nongsning to the Ratacherra stretch. A portion of the road near Lumshnong toll plaza was washed away on Thursday. Baranwal asked the people to avoid movement in this risky terrain till the restoration work was complete.

Train service in the Badarpur Lumding hill section was abandoned last month due to massive landslides at various points. The New Haflong station was badly damaged.

Taking advantage of the situation, private flyers immediately started to hike airfares for the Silchar-Guwahati flight. For Friday's single ticket for the 40-minute journey from Guwahati to Silchar, they were now charging Rs 12,500 against the normal rate of Rs 5,500.

During last month's wave of floods, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took an initiative for special air service between Guwahati and Silchar with a fixed charge of Rs 3,000 for a limited period. However, after a slight improvement of the NH-6, 'BigFly' suspended the special service.

Meanwhile, Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy requested the Chief Minister to take a step for the resumption of the special FlyBig air service in this critical condition.

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