Speaking to reporters after meeting the local people, Sarma said an embankment of Pachnoi river in Amtola area has been breached, causing severe damage to several villages.
“We have analysed the situation and have been told that if water can be diverted through a nearby stream, some instant relief can be given to the people. We will work on it and also work on plugging the breached embankment for the time being will commence,” he said.
He added that permanent repair work of the embankment will be undertaken post-monsoon from September.
Sarma assured the affected people of all assistance and directed the district officials to oversee it.
On his meeting with NEEPCO officials earlier in the day, the chief minister said, “We will conduct an inquiry and if we find that anyone was at fault, they will be made answerable.” “If NEEPCO’s dam was not there, the water would have flown down directly. They reserve the water up to a fixed level in the dam, and then release it. I told them if you reserve a huge quantity of water and let it out together, it becomes a type of ‘water bomb’,” he said.
“We will discuss it more seriously with them and try to find a solution,” Sarma said, referring to repeated instances of floods in the downstream areas of the NEEPCO dam in northern parts of the state over the years.
Nearly four lakh people in more than 17 districts of the state remained affected by the deluge, with floods and landslides claiming 10 lives so far. PTI SSG SSG ACD