Assam: Man drowns to death while taking bath in Mangaldoi River

Mangaldoi, July 3: As incessant rainfall triggers flooding in several parts of Assam, a 45-year-old man drowned while taking a bath in the Mangaldoi River on Wednesday.

According to local sources, the victim, identified as Lalchand Chouhan, a resident of Prafulla Nagar, Gerimari, was bathing in the river along with one of his neighbours, Japsia Choudhary. During that time, the duo made a bet of Rs. 600 on crossing the river. They both accepted the bet and started swimming from one bank to the other.

Japsia returned from the middle of the river. However, Lalchand drowned before reaching the other bank.

After receiving information about the incident, a team of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rushed to the site and recovered the lifeless body of Lalchand after around an hour.

Meanwhile, the flood scenario in Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve, though slightly improved on Wednesday, still remains grim for the last two days.

Overflowing water from the Brahmaputra, Dhansiri, Panchnoi, and Mara Dhansiri rivers submerged forest areas including twenty-seven anti-poaching camps out of a total of fifty camps, as stated by Pradipta Baruah, the executive director of the park, while talking to The Assam Tribune over the phone.

“The recent wave of flooding by the rivers Dhansiri, Panchnoi, Mara Dhansiri, and Brahmaputra caused severe damage to infrastructure as well as posing a threat to the wildlife of Orang National Park & Tiger Reserve,” he added.

Defying all the adverse situations, the forest staff is found to be continuing their regular anti-poaching vigilant activities using country boats and even on feet.

Meanwhile, the wildlife of the flood-affected forest areas stated to have moved to safer raised areas. So far, there has been no report of the loss or washing away of wildlife.

Similarly, the overall flood situation in Darrang district is stated to be grim, with the Brahmaputra flowing more than two metres above the danger level for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.

According to the last report of the district disaster management, nearly 1.48 lakh population in 125 villages under five revenue circles of the district have been affected in the district. Livestock figuring over 1.27 lakhs and crop area of around 1050 hectares have also been affected.

The Mangaldai revenue circle is stated to be the worst hit circle, where more than 90,000 population in 33 villages have so far been affected. About 24,000 population across 31 villages under the Pub Mangaldai revenue circle and nearly 20,000 under the Sipajhar revenue circle have also been affected by this current wave of flooding.