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Bihar and Assam floods: Over 1.20 crore people marooned; Assam CM calls for dredging of Brahmaputra

36 people died in both states on Thursday

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Passengers looking at the screen displaying the schedules of the trains at Guwahati Railway Station on Thursday: Major trains were cancelled due to floods in Assam.
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At least 36 more flood- related deaths have been reported from Bihar and Assam, even as over 1.20 crore people have been marooned in the two states.

The figure of flood casualties mounted to 98 in Bihar, with 26 more people losing their lives. The deluge has affected nearly 93 lakh people in 15 districts, forced postponement of examination and cancellation of trains, officials said.

The regional MeT office has forecast rain in southern Bihar for one more week.

The Health Department has launched a toll-free number -- 104 -- officials said, adding hospitals have been directed to maintain a sufficient stock of anti-snake and anti-rabies injections.

Araria district accounted for 20 deaths, followed by East Champaran (14), West Champaran (13), Madhepura (12), Sitamarhi (11), Kisanganj (8), Purnea (5), Madhubani (5), Darbhanga (4), Saharsa (3), Sheohar (2) and Supual (1), said Disaster Management Department Principal Secretary Pratyay Amrit.

Amrit said 3.59 lakh people have been shifted to safer places. Of them, 2.13 lakh were put up in 504 relief camps.

Food packets are being airdropped in inundated areas. Where flood waters have receded, they are being supplied through panchayats.

 Flood-affected people, sheltering along a road, wait for food in Motihari district of Bihar on Thursday - PTI

Amrit said 114 boats of the National Disaster Response Force, 92 of the State Disaster Response Force and 70 of the Army have been deployed for relief and rescue works.

Principal Secretary, Road Construction, Amrit Lal Meena said 124 roads, including national highways, have been damaged due to floods.

Meanwhile, train services continued to be affected.

An East Central Railways statement said 39 trains were cancelled as water overtopped tracks. The cancelled trains included 12235 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani, 12424 New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani till August 20.

The floods in Assam claimed 10 more lives. Around 31 lakh people across 24 districts are bearing the brunt of the flooding.

The toll in the third wave of floods in the state has risen to 49. 133 people have died so far this year in flood- related incidents.

According to a report by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), three persons died in Dhubri, two in Morigaon and one each in Dhemaji, Sonitpur, Barpeta, South Salmara and Nagaon districts.

The ASDMA said 31.55 lakh people are affected at present in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Udalguri, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Kamrup, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Sivasagar and Dibrugarh districts.

Dhubri is the worst affected with 8.13 lakh people hit. Around 5.30 lakh people have been affected in Morigaon.

A man along with his kid uses a make-shift raft to commute in a flood-hit village in Morigaon district in Assam on Thursday - PTI

Currently, 2,584 villages are under water. 1.67 lakh hectares of crop area has been damaged, the ASDMA said.

Authorities are running 602 relief camps and distribution centres in 21 districts, where 1,01,035 people are taking shelter.

The NDRF, SDRF and district administration personnel have evacuated nearly 3,500 people to safer places.

The flood has damaged embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructures in Udalguri, Barpeta, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Nagaon, Golaghat, Lakhimpur, Dhubri, Morigaon, Jorhat and Majuli.

Currently, the Brahmaputra river is flowing above the danger mark at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri.

Meanwhile, Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal chaired a high-level meeting where the talk of dredging of the Brahmaputra river was discussed. The officials said that the dredging of the river will start soon as a move to find a permanent solution to the perennial flood problem in Assam.

"In course of the meeting, it has been decided to start the dredging of the Brahmaputra from Sadiya from September onwards and as many as five dredgers will be pressed into service for the mega project," a state government statement said.

Today's meeting took up the construction of Brahmaputra Expressway threadbare and decided to rope in experts and manpower of Border Roads Organisation to build the expressway with the sand and silt dug-out through dredging.

The Assam government will submit the detailed project report for Brahmaputra Expressway soon. Chief Minister Sonowal requested the Brahmaputra Board to set up a unit in Majuli and upscale its manpower to tackle flood in the island as well as in the state.

In the meeting, the Director General of Brahmaputra Board informed that the Board decided to start three major projects upstream to protect the river island Majuli from the fury of flood.

He also informed that a Rs 237-crore road-cum-embankment project would soon be started in the southern bank of Majuli which would help check flood-induced damages in the river island.

The meeting was held as a sequel to the announcement of Prime Minister's Rs 2,000 crore package for Assam and the Northeast for relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and flood mitigation measures.

The package includes Rs 400 crore for improving water carrying capacity of the Brahmaputra through dredging in its entire stretch from Sadiya to Dhubri.

Sonowal said the proposed dredging besides enhancing the water holding capacity of the Brahmaputra would help in increasing navigation besides revamping the communication on the proposed Brahmaputra Express Highway.

The chief minister also asked the central government to take up the repairing work of the National Highways in view of the deplorable road conditions.

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