Thaindian News

By Vaschipem KamodangGuwahati, Sep 14(ANI): Monsoon related floods in some parts of Assam have severely affected villages, destroyed crops and are also posing a threat to wild animals especially on Majuli Island and in the Kaziranga National Park.The world’s largest river island Majuli has been severely hit by flood and erosion. Floodwaters have inundated over 87 villages of the island causing tremendous difficulty to the inhabitants and due to rapid erosion many fertile paddy fields have also been washed away by gushing water.”The island faces a severe threat. Before our paddy field was more than hundreds meters away, but now the area has been turned into a river,” said Dhrobojyoti Doley, a farmer.

While, Majuli, a local, said: “Schools have been badly affected because of the flood. It is expected that schools will remain closed for the next few days as well.”

A Central Water Commission bulletin has said that the main Brahmaputra river and its tributaries were flowing above the danger level in at least 10 places and in full spate and an Assam government statement had said a total land area of 3,000 hectares were affected. Meanwhile, monitoring the situation, the Central Government also released Rs 150 crores for rescue and relief works along the island.Floods also affected Kaziranga National Park, as the heavy downpours submerged almost 40 percent of the park with over flowing water from River Brahmaputra, posing a grave threat to animals.To tackle the situation, park authorities barricaded few stretches to ensure that the situation does not get out of control. “There are some woodlands and we have artificially raised some highlands. Besides that, there are some high grounds where animals are taking shelter,” said D P Boro, District Forest Officer of Kaziranga Forest Range. Spread over an area of 378 square kilometers, Kaziranga National Park is famous as the home of one horn rhinoceros and has been recognized as a World heritage Site. (ANI)