Guwahati: Heavy rainfall in Assam has caused severe floods in the state claiming three lives with several villages in Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur and Kamrup (Rural) district, besides Guwahati inundated by water today.
The army, BSF and NDRF are assisting the district administration in rescue operations.
A child was killed in a landslide in Dhubri district's Hatsingimari, while one person was electrocuted in Guwahati where a body floating on river Bharalu was also recovered, state government officials said.
In Goalpara district, the army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were assisting the district administration in rescuing the over 50,000 people marooned in 100 villages due to the deluge in Krishnai, Dudhnoi and Bolbola areas, district Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preetam Saikia told PTI.
The NH-37 was overrun by the flood waters that were flowing above the tin roofed and thatch houses in many areas in Goalpara district converting huge tracks of human habitation and farmland with standing crops into a vast body of water, Saikia said.
Heavy rains in Goalpara coupled with that in neighbouring Garo hills of Meghalaya was causing the deluge to be intensified in the district, the DC said.
A landslide claimed the life of a child in Dhubri district's Hatsingimari area and affected 50,000 people in 12 villages in that area, district administration officials said.
Incessant rain waters in the district and neighbouring Garo hills was causing water to also overrun the NH-31 halting movement of traffic, they said.
Stating that more than one lakh people were affected in the district, they said Deputy commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita has ordered halting of ferry boat services on the rising Brahmaputra.
Hatsingimari and Mancachar were the worst-hit with the BSF, NDRF and SDRF personnel evacuating over 5,000 marooned people there to safer places, Chief Minister's Office (CMO) spokesman said.
In severely water-logged Guwahati, which is under Kamrup (Metropolitan) district, the body of a person was recovered from Bharalu river flowing through the city, while a 71-year old man identified as Ashib Bhattacharjee was electrocuted in waterlogged Netaji Road in Lalganesh area here, officials said.
In view of the worsening flood situation in Dhubri and Goalpara districts, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today directed Chief Secretary Jitesh Khosla and administration of both the districts to take all possible measures to rescue the marooned and provide relief and rehabilitation to the flood-hit people.
JU authorities ask students to resume classes
Kolkata, Sep 22 (PTI) The Jadavpur University authorities today appealed to the students to maintain normalcy and resume classes, but the students remained adamant on boycott of classes reiterating their demand for resignation of the Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty.
"We have given a notice to all departments of the university, annexing the High Court order. We appeal to all to maintain normalcy," JU registrar Pradip Ghosh said.
"We have appealed that classes, which are not being held for some days, be resumed," Ghosh said.
The registrar said that he would request police authorities to see that students, who were arrested, were not affected. "We want that their careers are not affected."
Police had arrested 36 students from the university campus on the night of September 16 during its action to free Vice-Chancellor on a written request from him.
Asked about medical treatment of students injured in the police action, Ghosh said, "The university will sympathetically examine the possibility if there is an appeal."
"We have decided this after consulting the Vice-Chancellor," he said.
Asked when the Vice-Chancellor would rejoin office, he said, "He has taken leave as he is unwell. It is up to him to decide when he will come back."
He also said that the Vice-Chancellor would send a report to Governor K N Tripathi, who is the Chancellor of the university, as has been sought by him.
The registrar said that the students were yet to reply on an appeal by JU authorities that "if they want they can sit with the Vice-Chancellor to discuss the issues relating to the committee set up to inquire into the charge of molestation of the girl student".
The students, however, remained adamant on continuing the boycott of classes till the Vice-Chancellor resigned.
"Academic boycott will continue till our demands are met," one of the student leaders said after a meeting of the agitating students.
"We will march to Lalbazar (Kolkata Police headquarter) on Thursday demanding that cases registered against the 36 students be withdrawn," said another student leader.
Acting on a PIL seeking restoration of order in JU, the Calcutta High Court had on Friday directed the West Bengal government to inform through an affidavit the steps it has taken to restore normalcy in Jadavpur University including the details of police action on students on the intervening night of September 16 and 17.
Hatsingimari, sub-divisional headquarters of South Salmara as well as Krishnai and Dudhnoi in Goalpara district have been severely hit by the current wave of floods, a CM Office press release said.
"In Hatsingimari alone, about 4,000-5,000 people have been marooned. BSF personnel are working in close tandem with the district administration to evacuate the affected people," the release said.
The Chief Minister, who is closely monitoring the situation, asked the Chief Secretary and the Deputy Commissioners of Dhubri and Goalpara to take all measures to evacuate the marooned people and to move them to safer places with the help of personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force and other agencies, it said.
Gogoi asked the administrations of both the flood-hit districts to press into service sufficient number of country boats to rescue the stranded people.
He also asked the Chief Secretary and the district administrations of the two districts to make arrangements for sheltering the flood affected people and to provide relief materials to them.
In Lakhimpur district, heavy downpour for the last two days along Arunachal Pradesh, had forced the waters of the swollen Ranganadi river to rush through a breached dyke at Kharkati, district administration officials said.
A dyke that had breached at Borsola along with the Kharkati bundh on August 14 last also caused waters from Singara river to flood the area, they said.
The flood waters have marooned over 30,000 people in 30 villages in the Kharkati and Borsola area, they added.
Taking stock of the flash flood situation in Guwahati city following incessant rainfall, the Chief Minister directed the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration to take all possible measures to reach out to the people in distress.
Meanwhile, Kamrup Metropolitan district Deputy Commissioner M Angamathu said a relief centre with food and water has been set up for the succour of the people of Guwahati's Anil Nagar.
The schools in Guwahati have also been ordered to remain closed tomorrow in view of the water logging and the exams to be rescheduled, Angamathu said.
Control rooms are being set up at the offices of the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration, the Chief Minister's Secretariat and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation to monitor and coordinate the rescue and relief operations round the clock.
For assistance pertaining to Guwahati floods the phone numbers are 0361-2733052; 0361-2237042 and 8811007000, a CMO release said.
