Ongoing Assam floods that killed 189 & destroyed lakhs of houses are man-made: Embankment breached by miscreants
Thousands of crores blemished, IAF and Army continue rescue.
Five persons have been arrested in Assam's Cachar district in connection with the breach of an embankment of the Barak river, which eventually led to a massive flood in Silchar city and Assam, an official said on Saturday.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier said that the flood was a 'man-made' disaster and the miscreants would face stringent action.
On May 24, the Water Resources Department filed a police complaint against unknown miscreants for breaking through the embankment at Bethukandi, some 3 kilometres from the town centre, to allow rainwater from a marsh to pour into the Barak river.
“The Bethukandi incident is a big lesson for us. The next time there is a flood, we have to post policemen at the embankment so that nobody can breach it,” he said.
Mr. Sarma said the Cachar District Disaster Management Authority had issued an advisory but many residents did not take it seriously as the town had never seen such a flood.
Over 11 lakh people are still affected across 16 districts of the state due to the deluge. Four people, including two children, lost their lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 189.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Mithu Hussain Laskar, Kabul Khan, Nazir Hussian Laskar, and Ripon Khan.
At present, 1,024 villages are under water and over 29,781 hectares of crop areas have been damaged across Assam, the ASDMA report stated. Authorities are running 383 relief camps and distribution centres in 15 districts, where a total of 1,48,122 people, including 44,190 children, have taken shelter.