Assam flood: People walking on the flooded railway tracks at Jokhalabandha in Nagaon district of Assam on Monday. PTI Photo
While foodgrain stocks across the seven Northeastern states have depleted since the only railway link to the region was cut off by floods in Bihar on August 13, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday called up Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and asked him to personally intervene and restore the train services on war footing.
Sonowal told Prabhu about the impending shortage of essential commodities that the region might experience following prolonged disruption of railway traffic and said it was very important to repair and restore the damaged portions of railway tracks in Bihar as quickly as possible. The railways had last weekend said the restoration of the railway track to the region was not possible before August 28.
“The Union Railway Minister, however, has assured the chief minister that the Railways with its men and materials are on the toes, day in and day out, to repair the damaged rail tracks and restore train services at the earliest,” a press release issued by the chief minister’s office here said.
While the disruption has caused immense problems to over 10 lakh passengers who would have otherwise travelled between the Northeastern region and other destinations across the country, the railways have already incurred a loss of about Rs 50 crore in revenue during the past ten days.
Chief Minister Sonowal on Tuesday also spoke to Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and requested him to ensure smooth movement of goods-laden trucks so that there was no scarcity of essential commodities in Assam and other parts of Northeastern region. Prices of certain commodities such as onion, potato and pulses have already increased across the region ever since the railway link was severed.
The Assam chief minister also spoke to Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and said that the prices of air tickets from the Northeastern states to different destinations of the country had increased manifold in the wake of disruption of train services. Sonowal sought the minister’s intervention in maintaining reasonable fares of flights connecting the Northeast with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, even though the flood situation in Assam has considerably improved over the past couple of days, over 11 lakh people in 12 districts were still reeling under floods, with Tuesday’s official flood report saying about 35,000 people were currently lodged in 94 relief camps in these districts.
The Brahmaputra water level was still above the danger mark in Jorhat and Dhubri, while several of its tributaries were also flowing above the red mark in different districts on Tuesday. 70 persons have lost their lives in the second wave of floods, with Morigaon and Kokrajhar accounting for the highest casualties of 14 and 10. The first wave had claimed 90 lives.
