Silchar, May 25: At least 35 villages in south Assam's Karimganj district were inundated following a breach in the embankment along the Longai river in Teghoria, around 80km from here, last night.
Crops were damaged as river water swamped agricultural lands. Road connectivity has snapped in many areas and water entered several houses and schools, local residents said. Water is entering many more villages, last available reports suggest.
The affected villages include Teghoria, Kakripar, Elaspur, Katargul,Nayagram, Baleshwar, Farampasha, Kaliganj, Andharigram and Bidyanagar.
Local farmers said they had been suffering huge losses since the past three years because of floods, resulting from the Teghoria embankment collapse. They said though local MLA Aziz Ahmed Khan had assured them that the embankment would be repaired, nothing has been done till date.
Karimganj Yuva Congress members, including Jayjul Hussain, Amirul Hussain and others, lashed out at the water resources department, Karimganj division, and threatened to launch an agitation if the repair of the Teghoria embankment is not initiated soon. They have also demanded adequate government compensation for the farmers, who suffered losses because of floods this year.
According to the Karimganj agriculture department, around 8,700 hectares of cultivable land (including 1,500 hectares growing summer vegetables) have been damaged because of floods this year so far. More than 30,000 farmers suffered losses. A report regarding the losses/damage has been sent to the deputy commissioner of Karimganj, said district agriculture officer Ashishtaru Paul.
Achinta Roy, executive engineer of the water resources department (Karimganj division), told The Telegraph today that the work of the embankment in Teghoria would be started on a war footing after court clearance. He said because of a dispute over the portion of land (where the repair was to be done), the work has been stalled.
He said the water level in Longai was 21.3m (recorded this morning),whereas the danger level is 22m. He said there has been unprecedented rainfall this year. "Karimganj experiences around 4,118mm rainfall during monsoon every year. However, this year, more than 1,500mm rainfall has already occurred, whereas monsoon has not even started properly yet," he added.