Assam flood situation worsens, over 11 lakh people suffering
Guwahati (PTI): The flood situation in Assam deteriorated drastically on Tuesday with three more people losing their lives and more than 11.3 lakh people reeling under the deluge across 23 districts, an official bulletin said.
According to the daily flood bulletin of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), one person each died at Sadiya and Doomdooma revenue circles of Tinsukia district, while one person drowned at Jonai in Dhemaji district.
With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood, landslides and storms increased to 48.
The report said more than 11,34,400 people were hit due to the floods in Barpeta, Biswanath, Cachar, Charaideo, Chirang, Darrang, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Jorhat, Kamrup Metropolitan, Karbi Anglong, Karimganj, Lakhimpur, Majuli, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, Tamulpur, Tinsukia and Udalguri districts.
Lakhimpur is the worst hit with over 1.65 lakh people suffering, followed by Darrang with more than 1.47 lakh people affected and Golaghat with almost 1.07 lakh people reeling under flood waters.
Till Monday, over 6.44 lakh people were suffering across 18 districts of the state.
The administration has been operating 489 relief camps and relief distribution centres in 21 districts, where 2,86,776 people have taken shelter.
Nearly 2,850 people have been rescued by civil administration, SDRF, NDRF, Emergency Services and Air Force from various parts of the state, the ASDMA said.
The authority has distributed 10,754.98 quintals of rice, 1,958.89 quintals of dal, 554.91 quintals of salt and 23,061.44 litres of mustard oil among the flood victims during the last 24 hours.
At present, 2,208 villages are under water and 42,476.18 hectare of cropland have been damaged, the ASDMA said.
Embankments, roads, bridges and other infrastructure have been damaged by flood waters in several districts.
At present, the mighty Brahmaputra is flowing above the danger marks at Nimatighat, Tezpur, Guwahati and Dhubri.
Its tributaries Subansiri was flowing above the danger mark at Badatighat, Burhidihing at Chenimari, Dikhou at Sivasagar, Disang at Nanglamuraghat, Dhansiri at Numaligarh, Jia Bharali at Nt Road Crossing, Puthimari at NH Road Crossing, Kopili at Kampur and Beki at Road Bridge.
The Barak river was flowing above the danger mark at BP Ghat, while its tributaries Kushiyara at Karimganj town and Dhaleswari at Gharmura were also flowing above the red mark, the ASDMA said.
On account of widespread flooding, over 8,32,000 domestic animals and poultry have been affected across the state.
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Passenger claims 'bomb' on IndiGo flight, held after nothing suspicious found on landing
Raipur, Nov 14: An IndiGo flight from Nagpur to Kolkata with 187 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing at the Raipur airport on Thursday morning after one of the passengers told the crew there was a "bomb" on the aircraft, officials said.
After landing at the airport in Chhattisgarh, the aeroplane was thoroughly checked by security personnel, but nothing suspicious was found. The passenger who gave false information about the presence of a "bomb" on the aircraft was later arrested, they said.
The flight 6E-812, with 187 passengers and six crew members on board, landed at the Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur sometime after 9 am following the passenger's claim, said Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Santosh Singh.
As per preliminary information, a passenger, identified as Animesh Mandal, told aircraft crew members about the presence of a "bomb" in the flight when it was mid-air, he said.
The Air Traffic Control was immediately informed and the flight was diverted to Raipur. Upon landing, the aircraft was immediately taken to the isolation bay for mandatory security checks, the police official said.
A police team along with a bomb detection and disposal squad reached the airport. All passengers were deboarded and the aircraft and luggage in it were thoroughly checked by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Raipur police personnel, he said.
After a thorough inspection, the claim about the presence of a bomb was found to be false, Singh said.
Mandal, a resident of Nagpur, was questioned by the Raipur police and later placed under arrest, said the SSP without elaborating on the motive behind the claim.
The accused was booked under section 351 (4) (the offence of criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication, or having taken precaution to conceal the name or abode of the person from whom the threat comes) and provisions of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, he said, adding further investigation was underway.
The flight departed for Kolkata at around 12 noon, airport officials said.
On October 24, a bomb threat was issued to an Alliance Air flight from Kolkata to Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) following which the aircraft was checked at the Bilaspur airport, but nothing suspicious was found.
