Guwahati, May 18: Following the snapping of solitary railway line through Assam’s Dima Hasao district connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam on May 14, panic has gripped residents of the affected areas over the availability of essentials, transport fuel and vegetables.
The Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam is the only rail route to connect Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and the southern part of Assam with the rest of the country. This rail link has been cut off since May 14. The situation in the hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) at Halflong and nearby areas in Dima Hasao district remained critical on Wednesday as rain continued to batter the mountainous region, affecting the Lumding-Badarpur single line railway route.
A NFR official informed that restoration work has been completed in about 12 locations out of the 56 affected locations. “The work in major affected areas is yet to start due to the inclement weather,” he said. NFR officials said that uninterrupted rains coupled with the difficult terrain severely affected the restoration and repair work, which might take several weeks.
The ongoing pre-monsoon flood situation in Assam further deteriorated on Wednesday with 4,03,352 people in 1,089 villages under 26 districts across the state affected. The worst-affected districts include Cachar, Dima Hasao, Hojai, Nagaon, Charaideo, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Bajali, Baksa, Biswanath and Lakhimpur.
Meanwhile, State authorities in Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam said that there are sufficient stocks of essentials and transport fuel and if anyone or any trader tries to make illegal hoarding or increase the prices, the government would take action against them.
Officials of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said that one person died in western Assam’s Udalguri district during the past 24 hours taking the death toll to nine in the ongoing pre-monsoon floods and landslides in Assam.
The officials said that due to the ongoing floods 1,676 houses have been either partially and fully damaged in 1,089 villages under 26 districts. Over 39,558 people have taken shelter in 89 relief camps.
