JONAI, Aug 23 � With Dhemaji district reeling under another flash flood, the Dhemaji District Students Union (DDSU) today urged the State government to take up the matter with Arunachal Pradesh counterpart for ascertaining factors behind the sudden deluge.
The students� body said that the nature and extent of the sudden floods obviously point to some abnormal developments in Arunachal Pradesh. It was likely that water accumulated in a natural reservoir in Arunachal hill, at its upstream was released and the sudden deluge occurred at Gainadi in Dhemaji district, the union alleged.
�The sudden deluge at Gainadi and Simenchapori devastated vast areas and totally collapsed the economy in the rural areas. We are demanding the State government to institute a proper inquiry through expert geologists and ascertain the actual cause of the natural calamity,� said DDSU president Chitraranjan Basumatary in a statement.
Basumatary advocated that there was a greater need of sharing flood-related and river-monitoring information among the neighbouring States, especially between Assam and Arunachal. He said that the NDMA should closely observe the flowing water levels in the rivers in order to alert the people before such a sudden and devastating deluge.
The volunteers of DDSU, who have been engaged in flood relief and rescue operations in the affected areas, said that the flood-hit people of the district have not been provided adequate food items and other relief materials from the administration�s end.
It is worth mentioning here that in 2007, then State�s Water Resource Minister Bharat Chandra Narah made ritualistic announcements that the State government would move the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate sharing of all river-related information among different States. But nothing has been devised to alert the riverine people of a devastating deluge.
Sources from District Disaster Management Authority (DDDMA) today said that the floodwaters of the rivers are receding but the overall flood situation in the district is still critical. Road link with easternmost Jonai subdivision still remained cut off from rest of the State, resulting in acute shortage of essential items. So far six persons have been killed by the current wave of floods that started on August 15 while 65 cattle heads have also been washed away by the second wave of floods in the district.
