Landslide toll hits 23

Statesman News Service

KURSEONG/MALDA/COOCH BEHAR, 27 MAY: The death toll from the Darjeeling hill landslide rose to 23 with the recovery of three more unidentified bodies from Haridashatta in Darjeeling today. Rescue workers fear more people remain buried under the debris in the slide-hit areas of Darjeeling and Kurseong sub-divisions.The affected areas remain without power or water supply. Transportation is far below normal throughout the Darjeeling hills. The West Bengal Governor Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi visited the Cutlery Busty in Kurseong today and took stock of the situation. The locality took a heavy toll from the landslide.The SDO Kurseong Mr Dibyendu Das said that the government would pay Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased within the next two or three months. The administration has opened three relief camps at Springfield as well as Castleton Tea Estate and Community in Kurseong to shelter the victims.The Darjeeling MP Mr Jaswant Singh visited the affected sites today. “A four-member team has been set up to prepare a report on the situation and funds from the MPLAD would be disbursed accordingly,” Mr Singh said in Kurseong today.Mr Singh also said that he would raise the Darjeeling landslide issue in Parliament and demand funds from the Central Calamity Relief Fund to rehabilitate the victims. The Darjeeling Rajya Sabha MP Mr Saman Pathak has allotted a fund of Rs 10 lakh for the rehabilitation and restoration worksMeanwhile, in the aftermath of Aila has disrupted the power network, affecting the drinking water supply across the district. Yesterday, due to lack of power, the lifting of waters from rivers, treatment process and distribution of drinking water was disrupted in various water treatment plants run by the public health engineering (PHE) department. The arsenic-free water treatment plants located at Mathurapur in Manikchak, Dariapur in Kaliachak III and at Gour in English Bazaar were badly hit. Following complaints, the electricity department has been able to fix the power supply network today. In some places the department took more time to repair damages caused by the storm. As a result, PHE engineers faced problems at Mathurapur in Manikchak and Gour in English Bazaar today. Around 12.00 p.m. today, the electricity department was able to restore power supply at the Mathurapur surface water treatment plant. Mr DK Mondal, divisional manager, State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, Malda, said: “Departmental staff restored the power supply for water treatment plants on an emergency basis. Today, they took some time to complete repairs and restore a stable power supply to the plants.” “Today, around 12.00 p.m, power supply was restored and the supply of drinking waters from the plant is running properly,” said Mr S Maitra, executive engineer, PHE (arsenic division) in the northern zone. Another executive engineer of the PHE (arsenic division) in the southern zone, Mr D Banerjee, said: “Yesterday, we could not begin work on water treatment and supply. However, we started work this morning at Dariapur water treatment plant in Kalaichak III. Though the power supply has been restored at Gour water treatment plant in English Bazaar, it is not stable.” Thousands of residents of Manikchak, Ratua, Kaliachak I, II and III and also English Bazaar depend on the supply of drinking waters from the PHE. To a safer havenIncessant downpour on Butan Hills has caused havoc in Cooch Behar. The rivers that came down from the hilly area have taken on a dangerous role at villages under Tufanganj-I, Tufanganj-II, Cooch Behar-I and Mekhliganj blocks. The swelling rivers already breached several embankments. Numerous homeless people have been shifted to safer areas. The district administration are anxiously anticipating high floods in this monsoon.The Ridak river breached a roughly 800m stretch of embankment at Bholapara under Mahiskuchi gram panchayat in Tufanganj. More than 500 distressed families were shifted from the area. A 600m stretch of another embankment at Rampur and Falimari area was also breached. The condition of the embankment of Torsa at Maruganj is also alarming. The Torsa and Kaljani started fresh erosion of lands at Dawaguri. Already, the overflowing river has damaged the dyke made in 1985. The condition of Baxirkuthi village is also growing grave. The additional district magistrate (development) of Cooch Behar Mr Pannalal Mahapatra said the block development officials of all the affected areas had been asked to shift the residents of the concerned villages to safer areas.In Mekhliganj, the rainwater from the Bhutan Hills has swelled the Tista. The alluvial lands on the banks of the river have become submerged and a large number of people were confined in the area. About 300 affected families were shifted yesterday evening but about 450 families are still to be rescued. Seven country boats flowed away on the river. Vast cultivated areas and many dwellings were damaged in that area. Though the ‘red’ signal was withdrawn from the Tista at Mekhliganj last night, it is still ‘yellow’ as the water level is flowing over the danger mark. Moreover, the ‘yellow’ signal has been flashed over the Raidak and the Kaljani in Tufanganj.The annual district level flood preparatory meeting was held on Monday with officials of all concerned departments. It was decided there to run the Flood Control Room round the clock from 1 June. Observing the alarming situation following the downpour that started on Monday night, the control room came into effect yesterday, said the additional district magistrate (development). The ADM (D) also claimed that there were relief materials in the district to meet worrying situations. But, as there is a possibility of high floods during this monsoon, more relief materials may be needed. The district administration has requested the state government to send additional relief materials and funds. A few highlands have been identified to use as helipads during emergencies. As Tufanganj is known as a major flood prone area, more life jackets are to be kept ready there for rescue operations.Crops worth Rs Rs 34.18 crore and vegetables were damaged in North Dinajpur by the cyclonic storm and incessant rain in the district on Monday night. The officials of the district agricultural department today measured the value of damaged crops and vegetables and sent the figures to both the district magistrate of North Dinajpur Mr Ramanuj Chakraborty and to the director of the state agricultural department.