BADARPUR, July 19: Passengers? woes in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section, have now increased manifold due to severe landslides on this section in the last four months. The train services in this section is not likely to be regularised immediately. It is also likely that the situation in this hill section of NF Railway may get complicated further, according to higher officials of the railway administration. Expressing concern, they also said that in last few weeks due to heavy landslides in various places between Fiding and Mahur, Bagetar, Jatinga, Mailongdisa and Harangazao, Mahur and Fiding, Damchara and Bandarkhal, and Bandarkhal and Ditekchara, soil along railway lines have been washed away completely. Railway lines have been hit hards even as repairing works are going on in full swing.
Railway sources said that due to non-stop torrential rains, the occurence of landslides have increased on this section for which led to considerable damage to the railway lines and tracks. At present, the landslides ? occurring between Damchara and Bandarkhal ? have created a precarious situation as the soil on both sides of the railway lines have fully eroded, sources said. Talking to newspersons, the Principal Secretary of the NF Rly general manager, who is also the Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of NF Rly, Maligaon, said that the landslide cleaning work is going on in full swing although the landslides between Mailongdisa and Harangazao, are of serious nature. So, under the circumstances, it is not possible to start the train service in Lumding-Badarpur hill section, immediately.
Minister?s visit: The Union Heavy Industries Minister Santosh Mohan Dev inspected the flood situation of Barak Valley on Friday. Flying by helicopter, Dev observed the entire flood situation in the three districts of the valley along with the Cachar DC, Sunanda Sengupta, ADC, Bhannisikha Dutta, Co-operative Minister Misbaul Islam Laskar, MLA-Ajit Sing, Additional SP, SP Saikia, Silchar DCC general secretary Partha Ranjan Chakraborty and others. In the evening, a meeting was also held, where Dev took stock of the situation along with high officials of the district administration and various other departments. Dev sought a detailed report immediately mentioning information related to repairing of damaged roads, dams, bridges, and the total amount of money for relief distribution, etc., before his departure to Delhi
Meanwhile, the State Social Welfare Minister Gautam Roy has urged the Union Water Resources Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to find out the ?clue? for permanent solution of the Barak Valley floods. In an urgent personal meeting at Guwahati Airport on Thursday with Minister Dasmunsi Goutam Roy requested him to take necessary arrangement for the permanent solution of Barak Valley floods immediately. Minister Das Munsi assure Roy that a major portion of the Central funds will be used for the permanent solution of the Barak Valley flood.
Meanwhile, the flood situation in the Barak Valley has improved slightly. Although flood water of Cachar and Karimganj have decreased, the situation in Hailakandi district is still dangerous. Road and rail communications are still cut off from the rest of the country. Relief and rescue operation in the three districts are going on in full swing. District administrations have jointly made several arrangements to tackle the flood situation. Army, BSF and several NGOs have been kept for relief and rescue operations.