Over 10,000 people homeless due to heavy rains in Tripura

Agartala, June 18 (PTI): Over 10,000 people have been rendered homeless in Tripura due to inundation caused by incessant rainfall since Friday but there is no report of any human casualty, an official said.

The inundation has been confined to Agartala and its neighbourhood in West Tripura district, where the Howrah river overflew its banks mostly in the low lying areas of Agartala Municipal Corporation and its neighbourhood, he said.

The district received 155 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours and the civic body area is the worst affected, senior official of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), Sarat Kumar Das said.

Chief Minister Manik Saha held a meeting of senior officials on Saturday to take stock of the flood situation, Das said.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister asked the officials to assess the damage caused by the flood so that affected people could get compensation at the earliest, he said.

Due to the inundation in Agartala and other sub-divisions a total 2057 families having over 10,000 members have taken shelter in 39 relief camps, he said.

In Agartala 1921 flood affected people took shelter in 34 relief camps. Three camps have been set up at Jirania in West Tripura district, he said.

The Howrah river, which was flowing above its danger level at 4 pm, has receded as there has been no rain in about eight hours. The situation is expected to improve further on Sunday as the Met department has predicted light rain in the next 24 hours, he said.

Das said disruption of road connectivity in Meghalaya was also discussed at the meeting as it has affected surface communication and transport of essential commodities to landlocked Tripura. An officer has been sent to Meghalaya to see the ground reality.