ITANAGAR, July 8 (PTI): IAF helicopters sorties dropped off food supplies in Arunachal Pradesh''s Lazu, for the first time since the town was cut-off after landslides two months ago, official said today.
The people of sleepy Lazu town in Tirap district, the main corridor for insurgents to cross over from Myanmar, live in abject poverty as the land is not suitable for growing crops, they said.
With their stock of food exhausted, the villagers were solely dependent on the rations provided by the state. The government had approved 16 relief sorties for Lazu circle on June 23 but the actual dropping of PDS items could only materialise on Wednesday, due to inclement weather.
So far only four sorties, out of the 16 approved, could be carried out, the officials added.
However, because of the delay in dropping off PDS items, the Tirap district administration and Food and Civil Supplies department had started transporting rations by head-load as immediate relief, they said.
A massive landslide blocked the Khonsa?Lazu road near Pongkong village about 24 km from Lazu on May 20.
Despite efforts of the Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) along with the Army, the blockade could not be cleared.
According to BRTF sources, it will take months to reopen the road because of the magnitude of the blockade.
As per conservative estimates, the total cost of air sorties to feed Lazu circle per month will be around Rs 55 lakh while Rs 20 lakh will be incurred in transporting PDS items as head-load.
