Flood like situation in Cooch Behar : Red signal over Mansai, yellow on other rivers

 

COOCH BEHAR, July 27: Due to incessant downpour at the upper catchment areas and on the plains, the water levels of all the major rivers are rising in Cooch Behar district, causing concern to the residents of the villages near the rivers. Three blocks in this district are affected from the flood like situation. A few hundred dwelling houses were damaged and more than four hundred families were shifted to safer places.

 

Officials of all concerned departments were asked to ensure availability of their staff and officers at respective headquarters. District magistrate Mr Rajesh Kumar Sinha issued an order today asking all officers not to leave their headquarters during the ongoing monsoon period without prior permission of the DM.

 

As the water levels of the rivers are rising, Red signal was imposed on Mansai at Mathabhanga upto Indo-Bangladesh border at 1-30 a.m. last night. Yellow signal was imposed on Sankosh at Tufanganj, Teesta at Mekhliganj and Torsa at Hasimara, according to Flood Control room sources at Cooch Behar.

 

Due to continuous downpour for the last ten days the lower areas of Cooch Behar turned water logged. Normal life was disrupted in Cooch Behar town. Seeing the water level's rising trend a large number of dwellers of sandbank of Torsa adjacent to Cooch Behar town started shifting on the town-saving embankment as they did in previous years. A warning for more heavy rainfall during the next 24-hours reached at the district head quarter today. It is feared that if the downpour continues for a few more days, the water levels of other rivers would cross the danger mark.

 

Following the flood like situation all the residents of the villages adjacent to the rivers in protected and unprotected areas were alerted about the rising water levels of the rivers by the authorities. All the five Sub-divisional Officers, the BDOs of the twelve blocks and others concerned were alerted by the district administration to keep constant watch on the situation. They were asked to be ready with rescue facilities and relief materials including tarpaulin sheets and dry foods.

 

District magistrate of Cooch Behar Mr Rajesh Kumar Sinha visited Saldanga and other flood-affected areas in Tufanganj sub-division today. The flood like situation affected four hundred families, he said. The most affected areas are Sitai block, Saldanga and Daspara in Tufanganj-II block and Char Balabhut in Tufanganj-I block, the DM said. He ordered distribution of relief materials among the affected people and rescuing of the people from water logged areas. Mr Sinha also visited the condition of the flood shelters and reviewed rescue systems today.

 

The rainfall recorded in the last 24 hours at Cooch Behar is 23.50-mm, at Tufanganj it is 26.60 mm and at Mathabhanga it is 57.40-mm. Total rainfall recorded in this season in Cooch Behar is 1426.90-mm, in Tufanganj 1860.90-mm and in Mathabhanga 1549-mm. []

 

Bandh call on hawker issue

 

COOCH BEHAR, July 27: The SUCI and the CPI-ML (Liberation) offered their support to the 12-hour bandh called by the Forward Bloc on 2 August. The Forward Bloc called the bandh against the indiscriminate hawker eviction drive and demanding a permanent solution on the hawker issue.

 

SUCI leader Mr Kajal Chakraborty demanded finding of a way out of the hawker problem by opening talks with hawkers' representatives. The footpath hawkers should be allowed to run their businesses at the places from where they were evicted, he demanded. He also asked the administration, civic body and the police to stop evicting hawkers forcibly. []