DIBRUGARH, June 28 - More than 5,000 persons have been shifted to 37 flood relief camps in Dibrugarh district, following widespread flooding by the Brahmaputra, Buri Dehing, Sessa and other swollen rivulets. In all, 182 villages of the district have been affected by floods.
An emergency review of the flood situation was held at the DC�s office here, which was attended by Assam disaster management MoS, Jogen Mohon, Union MoS, Rameswar Teli, the Dibrugarh and Lahowal MLAs Prasanta Phukan and Rituparna Baruah and others. Their recommendations included a direction to the Water Resources Department to �thoroughly study the drainage requirements of Dibrugarh�.
In the city, the waterlogging situation has eased by about 20 per cent, as there has been no significant rainfall here since Saturday afternoon. But the Meteorology Department has forecast rains in the coming few days, which means that the misery for at least one lakh citizens here will continue.
The heavily waterlogged traffic junctions like Seujpur Tiniali, Chowkidinghee Chariali, Thana Chariali, Phoolbagan Tiniali, Grahambazar Tiniali, Tinkunia and Gabharupathar Tiniali have seen much of the waters recede by Sunday morning.
The past five days� waterlogging 60 per cent of the city�s localities have been aggravated by leaking waters from the Brahmaputra. These leaks occurred at Maijan and upstream of Mothola. In fact, a sluice gate at Mothola was ajar till Saturday afternoon.
Fortunately, the Brahmaputra did not gush in from the Maijan leak or the Mothola sluice leak. Had this occurred, the city may have witnessed a disaster like never before. It is not yet known if anyone in the Water Resources Department here have been questioned/penalised for the gross negligent act of keeping the Mothola sluice gate half open.
Many in the city here have also pointed out to blocked culverts under the national highway from Chaulkhowa/Bokul to Banipur/Niz Kodomoni to the severe waterlogging situation here since Tuesday. Normally, leaking waters from the Brahmaputra and from the Dikom river/Maijan Beel flow out towards the Sessa via Chaulkhowa, Khaniagaon and Nirmaligaon and also towards Dainijan from Nirmaligaon.
Road construction in the Chaulkhowa and Khanikar areas and the railway tracks on the Dibrugarh�Moran section have insufficient water passages, which is a major bottleneck for stormwater outflow.
These issues are in the notice of the relevant authorities, including the railways since the past couple of years. Their inaction on the matter has made the 180-year-old city of Dibrugarh suffer.
Non-completion of ongoing drainage projects is another issue that nobody wants to address.
