BISWANATH CHARIALI, Aug 29 - The surging water of the river Brahmaputra and several other tributaries that flow down the hills of Arunachal Pradesh created havoc in most of the parts of Gohpur subdivision in Biswanath district. The aftermath of the flood has thrown the life of the common men out of gear in some parts of the subdivision.
The surging waters of the Sessa river affected several villages in Kalmouguri, Baishistapur, Navapur, Shingarajan, Rangajan Mising etc., under Kalabari Gaon Panchayat while a similar situation arose in the villages under Raonamukh, Lohitmukh, Pichala Sobansiri, Kharaiparia, Bortamuli, Bakaridalani and Rangalial Gaon Panchayat areas. Though the water receded after a few days, the sand and silt that came along with the flood water buried hundreds of paddy fields and households. It ruined the dreams of the cultivators overnight.
According to information, villagers like Bhupen Hazarika, Benu Das, Jayanta Hazarika, Thuleswar Hazarika, Harendra Das, Dharmeswar Hazarika, Ratneswar Das, Maniram Das, Umesh Das, Bhogeswar Das, Reba Das, Dilip Das, Bagiram Das and Srimanta Das are the worst affected cultivators. Moreover, the campuses of Kalmouguri Lower Primary School and Rajiv Gandhi Lower Primery School were completely buried by the sand. A good number of families in Rangajan Mising village and Louguti village were also badly affected as the lower parts of their chang ghar were buried upto three feet under the sand. Most of these villagers are cultivators and they have to solely depend upon what they produce in their agricultural lands. It may be mentioned here that these villagers had grown crops of Boro paddy during the last winter season, but it was totally damaged by the wild elephants coming out of the Kaziranga National Park. Following this, the villagers had grown Sali crops this time which was also destroyed by the recent flood turning the paddy fields into barren lands. The affected villagers allege that desert like environment was created by this natural happening in the villages like Nampichala Amguri under Pichala Sobansiri Gaon Panchayat where people find it difficult these days to go outside during the day because of extreme temperature of the burning sun. This has also caused shortage of drinking water problem there. The cattle are also badly affected due to the shortage of fodder.
On the other hand, the breach at the dyke along the river Chatrang affected many villages including Pub Ghogra, Nalbari, Majgaon, Deonabari, Badalpathar etc. The communication along the Sonapur-NH 15 connecting road via Nalbari village is still disrupted as around 400 metre portion of the dyke was breached at Pub Ghagra Nalbari. Local people allege that the said dyke was repaired by the government at the cost of around five crore, eighty five lakh and fifty thousand last year only, but poor repairing work led to this disaster in those areas.
The adinistraion provided relief materials and other help to the affected people during the flood, but the villagers have urged the concerned authorities to take steps to handle the aftermath of the situation particularly in the fields of sanitation, drinking water and medical health.