FLOOD SITUATION

Flood : Army's rescue operation continues

The overall flood situation in Cooch Behar district has been improved a little today. The water levels of almost all the rivers have shown a downward trend. But, the water in the Teesta is still flowing over the danger mark. Yellow signal has been flashed on that river. Yesterday it was Red. The water level again started going upward from this afternoon. To add insult to injury, soil erosion began afresh.

The jawans of the Army are conducting rescue operation at several waterlogged villages in Mekhliganj sub-division from this morning. They are doing the job armed with three speedboats and a few country boats.

The district magistrate of Cooch Behar Ms Smaraki Mahapatra said more than 400 water-marooned persons have been rescued. They have been shifted to relief camps. Already 29 rescue shelters opened in that area and a few more would start operating soon, she said. The situation has improved and it is now under control. They requested the state government to provide more relief materials like tarpaulin sheets, rice and contingency fund to meet the situation if it turns grave in near future, Ms Mahapatra added.

Earlier, the civil administration of the district failed to rescue the people from the submerged areas because they failed to convince those people to come out from the flooded areas. At last, finding no other alternative they called the Army yesterday to help the civil administration. The rescue operation started this morning. It was learnt that still about 1,500 people are waiting to be rescued.

On the otherhand, the Block Development Officer of Mekhliganj, Mr Shuvashis Ghosh and other officials today tried to convince the marooned people to co-operate with the Army jawans to rescue them. They conveyed their appeal using loudspeakers. As there is a weather forecast about more heavy rainfall during the next 48 hours they asked the stranded people to come out from the submerged areas to take shelter in relief camps.

It was learnt that many dwellings of the lower lands especially of alluvial land of the Teesta damaged in the flood like situation and about 30 cattle floated away towards Bangladesh by the current of the river water. The most affected areas are Paniyar-char, 40-Nijtaraf, Hossener-char and Hakimer-char.