Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that strong action will be taken against those people who broke the bethukandi embankment, which led rising water from Barak River to enter the Silchar town, causing unprecedented flood. While Silchar faces floods almost every year, this year the situation is very bad, with flood waters reaching roofs of some single floor houses in the largest town in Southern Assam.
However, this flood has been described as man made flood by officials and the CM, not natural flood. While on a visit to Silchar on June 23 to review the flood situation, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that people willing breached the vital embankment, and not action but strong action will be taken against the culprits. The CM added that if people break embankments, than there can be no solution of the flood problem.
‘This was not a natural flood, this flood was created. What measure can be taken to prevent a created flood. For natural flood we can think about solutions, but if people decide that they will bring in water, what can be done’, the CM said.
It is notable that last month, some people had cut the vital embankment to let water from a lake to enter the river. While the water level had risen in May, the embankment was not breached. But the rising wated had flown over the embankment and entered the area. Due to this, the water level of the Mahisha Lake had gone up. As the flood situation was still worrying, the irrigation department had not opened the sluice gate, and the water in the late didn’t recede, even though the water in the Barak river started to recede.
Due to this, people living in the area had started to dig a pathway for the water to move from the lake to the river. This did solve the problem, and the water level in the lake came down. But this was a big mistake by people, because when the water in the river started to rise again due to non-stop rain earlier this month, there was no embankment to keep the water away from the town. The strong water current quickly widened the drain that was dug through the dyke, and water started to enter Silchar through it.
While the Water Resource Department had filed an FIR after it was learnt that the embankment was breached by people, allegedly the authorities didn’t taken action in time to repair it. The department later did repair the damage, but by that time it was too late and it could not hold back the water.
Talking about the issue, Assam State Disaster Management Authority CEO GD Tripathi said, “the action by the miscreants turned out to be counterproductive and it resulted in widespread flooding in Silchar. Many parts of the town are still flooded.”
An FIR has been registered with Cachar police in the matter.