Guwahati, July 06: Army has been kept in readiness to assist the civil administration in flood-hit Dhemaji district of Assam where thousands of people are reeling under the impact of the waters of the swelling Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Flood minister Nurzamal Sarkar told a news agency here today that though the army had not yet been pressed into service, the district administration had asked the army to get ready to help in rescuing and providing relief to the flood victims. Sarkar said the floods were not due to the rain in Assam but heavy showers in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, situated above the state causing flash floods here. The flood situation in Dhemaji continued to be grim with the rail tracks washed away by the river changing its course there and reconstruction works were on for a new rail route, the minister said. “An alternative road communication had been worked out for movement of light vehicles following river Jiadhol breaching the national highway in several places,” he said.

Besides relief camps opened in Dhemaji, Sarkar said, relief materials had been sent to the flood affected districts and doctors along with medicines deployed to provide health care to the people there.

Bureau Report