Tripura Flood Situation Remains Critical; Biplab Deb Says Focus on Saving Lives

Agartala: The flood situation in Tripura deteriorated on Friday as a fresh spell of heavy rain inundated several areas, rendering thousands homeless and damaging crops and roads.

The surface communication in North Tripura has not yet been restored and affected people are still in the relief camps. The death toll reached three as a 50-year-old farmer was washed away by the rain-fed Khowai river on Thursday.

Businessmen and roadside hawkers faced heavy losses as water-logging hindered customers from buying goods.

Two National Disaster Response Force (NRDF) teams of Tripura and two more from Silchar have been deployed for rescue operations. On Thursday night, an IAF Aircraft arrived in Agartala Airport from UP with more than 20 advanced boats to speed up the operations.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday went to Kailasahara again to assess the situation.

“Kailasahar and Unokoti District have not faced such flooding in the last 30 years. More than 5500 hectares of agricultural land is under water in the state. The rail connectivity has been severely affected. The state has stock fuel for only four days,” he said.

A cabinet meeting was also held on Friday. Deb said that the cabinet has decided to give priority to the rescue operation first. “First, we need to save the people. After the rescue operations, the government will examine total losses, and accordingly seek financial assistance from the central government,” he added.

The three who have died so far have been identified as Kantha Mani Debbarma of Kalyanpur under Khowai District, Shankar Tripura of Manughat under Subroom subdivision and Sudhaw Mog, a five-year-old from Shantirbazar under South Tripura District.

The State cabinet after an emergency meeting had declared that seven out of eight districts have been affected. Only Sepahijala district has been marked safe. Unakoti District was the most affected and 90 relief camps have been set up there.

The state government also cancelled the ‘100 days of BJP government in Tripura’ celebrations due to this situation.