A damaged railway line in flood-hit Katihar district. (PTI Photo)
The vital railway link to Assam and the Northeastern region, that was damaged at several places due to floods in Bihar on August 12, is not likely to be repaired soon, with the railway authorities here saying full connectivity could not be restored before August 28.
“As per engineering estimate full connectivity cannot be restored before August 28. Northeast Frontier Railway has borne the brunt of flood fury and many locations in its network still remain breached in Kishanganj, Katihar and Araria districts of Bihar. However, restoration work is going on in war footing in all locations,” NF Railway CPRO Pranav Jyoti Sharma said.
The railway authorities, however, have begun loading of essential commodities to the Northeastern region at Kishanganj railway station in Bihar from where rakes carrying those commodities will move to various parts of the region.
For passengers traveling from the Northeast to other destinations in India, the railways have provided special trains from Dibrugarh and Guwahati to Dalkhola in North Bengal, from where passengers have to travel by road to Raiganj for onward journey, the CPRO said.
“As the track between Dalkhola and Raiganj continues to remain breached (till bridge no 133 is restored) passengers can avail bus service between these two stations which are located at close vicinity of the four-lane National Highway,” CPRO Sharma informed.
Three more deaths
Though the overall flood situation in Assam has improved, three more human deaths were reported on Saturday, taking the toll in this year’s floods in the state to 153. One death each was reported from Dhubri, Morigaon and Golaghat districts, the daily flood report said.
While the Brahmaputra was flowing above the red mark only in Jorhat and Dhubri on Saturday, about 22 lakh people still continued to remain affected in 16 districts, of whom about 68,000 were lodged in 191 relief camps. The authorities on Saturday evacuated about 1,500 marooned persons in seven districts where the situation continued to be grim.
