Villagers cut dyke to drain out flood water in Mangaldai

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MANGALDAI: Getting highly impatient and aggrieved over the failure of the Water Resources Department to create suitable drainage to carry away the huge volume of flood water which has almost submerged all the households of about 25 villages in the Darrang district for nine days at a stretch since June 17, several hundred of the worst-affected people on Saturday morning came out with spades and axes in hand and cut a stretch of the embankment of the river Saktola near Bhokelimara village under the Mangaldai Police Station in order to drain out the accumulated flood water.

The cut stretch of the embankment has spread up to 30 metres in width and is allowing the flood water to make its way again to the river Saktola. The people who cut the embankment are mostly taking shelter in flood relief camps and they acted in a peaceful manner throughout.

The Deputy Commissioner of Darrang, Pranab Kumar Sarma, had rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the aggrieved villagers and dissuade them from excavating the stretch of the embankment. However, the villagers defied the Deputy Commissioner and compelled him to return empty-handed. The armed security forces deployed in the area for the last two days to thwart away any such attempt of damaging the public property, too, remained mute spectators.

Following breach of a stretch of the embankment of the river Saktola for the second time on June 17, the river changed its course and flowed over the NH-15, inundating 25 villages completely. A population of 25,000 was affected as a result. The entire volume of flood water was unable to find its way towards the river Brahmaputra through three very small sluice gates and transformed the entire area into a vast artificial sea. The Water Resources Department failed to find a scientific way to pump out the huge volume of flood water.

Later in the evening, on being asked over the phone Deputy Commissioner Sarma said that the incident took place at night and people gathered there long before he arrived there and they were agitated too being captive under the logged water. "The incident took place at that point of the embankment where there was already a seepage and on Thursday night a similar attempt was made after which some temporary protection work was done. Now the water coming out of the area is directly entering the river without causing any problem" said Deputy Commissioner Sarma.

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