Kohima, August 1 (EMN): Chief Minister TR Zeliang on Tuesday apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi the predicaments being faced by the people of Nagaland due to severe monsoon, during the latter’s visit to Guwahati (Assam) to assess the flood situation in various parts of the northeast. The Prime Minister held a series of high level meetings with the chief ministers and top officials from Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Zeliang while appreciating PM Modi’s gesture of concern by visiting the northeast region in the wake of the unprecedented damage caused to life and property by the monsoon this year, highlighted that natural disasters have been increasing in scale, complexity and frequency in the state of Nagaland.
Chief minister Zeliang explained that during the current year, beginning with Cyclone Mora on May 31 and followed by the severe monsoon had resulted in the loss of 19 lives with 5 people still missing.
“A total of 2276 families spread over 302 villages and a population of 6.55 lakhs in the State of Nagaland have been affected. Altogether, 566 families have been evacuated. These figures may not appear alarming, but for a small State like Nagaland, I wish to make it clear that in terms of percentages, these figures are most disquieting,” Zeliang stated in the memo.
He also highlighted that due to the severity of the monsoon, many villages were cut-off for weeks together since the month of May and many roads and bridges across the state were severely damaged or completely washed away on account of flash floods and landslides. He maintained that with the monsoon still on, authorities are apprehensive of more destruction of property and infrastructure in the state in the hands of natural calamities.
While pointing out that the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) along with the district administration has been providing immediate relief and search & rescue operations on a war footing, the chief minister informed that all the line departments in the state have also been tasked to assess damage to infrastructure and submit their reports.
Zeliang also apprised the Prime Minister that the state government, through the NSDMA, has released immediate relief to the affected families and ex-gratia to the deceased and as an immediate measure, the state government activated the response teams in all the districts.
However, he stated besides this, the state is in dire need of adequate steps for mitigation like setting up of advanced weather stations, adequately equipping of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and putting in place risk transfer mechanisms.
During the meeting on Tuesday, chief minister Zeliang is stated to have requested the Prime Minister to send a team of officers from NDRF to conduct verification in affected areas and grant immediate relief to the displaced families, while also requesting for grant of special package for the state to repair the roads and bridges damaged within July.
