Three days after a cloudburst caused flash floods in the Teesta river in Sikkim, the number of bodies found in its downstream areas has risen to 25, while a large number of people are still missing. Seven army soldiers are also among the dead. Officials gave this information on Friday.
Officials said that 143 people are still missing, while about 2,413 people have been rescued and are taking shelter in relief camps.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of each person who lost his life in the flash floods in the state. He also announced immediate relief of Rs 2000 each to the people taking shelter in relief camps.
CM Tamang said that there has been a loss of thousands of crores of rupees. We cannot give exact details about the loss, it will be known only when a committee is formed and it completes its analysis. Our first priority is to rescue the stranded people and provide them immediate relief.
CM Tamang said that road connectivity between the districts has been broken and bridges have been washed away. Communication services have been badly affected in North Sikkim. CM Tamang said that out of 23 army soldiers missing from Bardang area, bodies of seven have been recovered from different parts of the low-lying areas, while one has been rescued and the search for the remaining missing soldiers is going on in Sikkim and North Bengal.
Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) said in its latest bulletin that so far 25 people have died and 143 are missing. While 15 people, including six army personnel, died in Pakyong district, four soldiers and six civilians were killed in Mangan and Gangtok districts, the SSDMA said. He said that about 25,100 people have been affected by this disaster.
The Chief Minister said that he has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and President Draupadi Murmu and other central leaders. “He has assured me that all necessary assistance will be provided to the state,” Tamang said. Shah has approved the release of an advance amount of Rs 44.8 crore to the state from the central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to provide relief to the people affected by the floods in Sikkim.
Following Shah’s direction, the Home Ministry constituted an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) which will soon visit the affected areas of Sikkim to assess the flood caused by the cloudburst and the damage caused by it, an official statement said. Will visit.
Due to cloud burst over Lhonak Lake, there was sudden flood in Teesta River, a huge amount of water collected and flowed towards Chungthang Dam. The torrential water flow destroyed power plant infrastructure and flooded low-lying towns and villages. The floods washed away 13 bridges in the state, including eight in Mangan district alone. Three bridges in Gangtok and two in Namchi were washed away.
The flood has caused maximum devastation in Chungthang city and 80 percent of its area has been affected. National Highway (NH) 10, considered the lifeline of the state, has suffered heavy damage at many places. Meanwhile, the search for 15 missing army soldiers is going on in the low-lying area near Teesta Barrage.
CM Tamang has also assured free medical treatment and logistical support to the displaced people who are working here from outside the state and wish to return, till Siliguri, the largest city of northern West Bengal. On the criticism from various quarters regarding the construction of hydropower projects in the ecologically sensitive hilly region, he blamed the flawed and poor development model of the previous governments for the disaster.