2.25 lakh people affected by fresh floods in Assam
Guwahati: A total of 2.25 lakh people in nine districts were affected and over 10,000 hectares of crops submerged on Sunday as fresh floods hit Assam, the state disaster management authority said.
Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Majuli, West Karbi Anglong, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts have been affected, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in its report.
Incessant rain in the last few days has triggered this year's third wave of floods in the state, claiming one life in Nagaon district on Saturday, it said.
The fresh fatality has pushed the number of deaths in flood-related incidents in Assam this year to 118, the report said. The number of affected people was 1.8 lakh on the previous day.
Nagaon is the worst-hit district with 1.51 lakh affected people, followed by Morigaon (32,711), Dhemaji (16,792) and Dibrugarh (10,622), the report said.
Human habitations and farmland in 219 villages in nine districts are submerged, it said. The mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger mark at Neamatighat in Jorhat district and Tezpur in Sonitpur.
A total of 43 relief camps have been set up in three districts so far, the report said.
Road connectivity has been affected in Morigaon, Nagaon and West Karbi Anglong districts, it added.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
