'Losing a house is a terrible feeling... We were not given enough time to shift our belongings.'
Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
Indefinite curfew was clamped in Kokrajhar district of Assam on Thursday morning as fresh tension gripped the violence-affected district over the arrest of Kokrajhar West constituency legislator from Bodoland People's Front, Pradeep Brahma by the police late Wednesday night.
With the situation remaining grave in strife-torn Kokrajhar district in Assam, around 2,000 people from the state have migrated to neighbouring Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal.
Over 5,000 people lodged in relief camps in Kokrajhar district of Assam are being shifted to make-shift relief camps in their native villages or close to their native villages under the protection of 24x7 fixed security pickets.
The Gauhati high court on Thursday granted bail to Pradeep Brahma, Bodo People's Front MLA of Kokrajhar (West) constituency in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council area, who was arrested on August 22 on charges of inciting the mob during the recent flare-up in the region
The militants attacked an India Reserve Battalion camp at Naranseina in the Moirang police station area, they said.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
A blast in New Jaipaiguri in West Bengal has killed four persons and injured seven. The police and the Intelligence Bureau are suspecting the involvement of the dreaded Inter-Services Intelligence funded, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. The powerful bomb was planted on a cycle.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
The government has constructed the first dedicated centre at Matia in Goalpara district to put the suspected and declared foreigners found in Assam.
According to BJP insiders, every Union minister has been given 3-4 seats to mentor and has been told to work hard on these constituencies in the next 20 months to ensure the party's victory.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, was completely withdrawn in Meghalaya in 2018, Tripura in 2015 and Mizoram in the 1980s.
In the last 24 hours, eight people have died after drowning in flood waters -- two each in Barpeta and Karimganj districts, one each in Darrang, Hailakandi, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts and eight people are still missing.
India Meteorological Department officials said the quake shook Assam, including its capital Guwahati, Meghalaya, West Bengal and neighbouring Bhutan at 6.35 am.
Two more died in the state today. With this, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslide has gone up to 115 across the state -- 89 were killed in flood-related incidents and 26 in landslides.
With two more deaths, the fatalities due to flood this year has gone up to 18.
The abduction of a 50-year-old engineer in Kokrajhar district, western Assam, by suspected militants belonging to the anti-peace talks faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland has left the East-West Corridor project of the National Highway Authority of India in lurch.
With the fresh fatalities, the total number of people losing their lives in this year's flood and landslides across the state has gone up to 42.
Five Hindi-speaking bus passengers were killed and three others injured in a dastardly attack by suspected terrorists belonging to the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Sangbijit faction) on the national highway in Kokrajhar district in western Assam late on Friday night.
The influential All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) took out cycle rallies from the North bank of Brahmaputra River between Kokrajhar district to the west and Dhemaji district to the East to press for their demand for a separate state for the Bodo tribe in Assam.
A total of 246 militants of United Gorkha People's Organisation and Tiwa Liberation Army formally surrendered before Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on Thursday.
Currently, the Brahmaputra at Guwahati, Nimatighat in Jorhat, Tezpur in Sonitpur, Goalpara and Dhubri towns, while the Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj are flowing above the danger mark.
The map above visualises the percentage of households that have access to drinking water within the premises as found in the National Sample Survey's 69th round (2012).
A direct contest between nominees of the BJP-led NDA and Congress-headed Grand Alliance is on the cards in 20 constituencies
Assam has instructed its bordering districts to keep a tight vigil and not to allow poultry products from the neighbouring West Bengal, where an outbreak of avian influenza has been reported.
According to the daily flood report of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, one person was killed at Sissibargaon in Dhemaji district on Saturday.
Dhubri is the worst hit with over 8.72 lakh people affected, followed by Barpeta with more than 4.78 lakh people and Goalpara with around 4.28 lakh population.
Terming the situation in violence-hit districts of Assam as 'deplorable', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the state will provide shelter to refugees fleeing trouble-torn areas.
In Assam, nearly 27.80 lakh people across 26 districts have been affected by the deluge. The deaths were reported from the Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Morigaon districts. The death toll due to floods and landslides this year has risen to 122.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
The death toll may go up given that condition of eight of the injured was stated to be serious.
The deluge, which had affected 2.5 lakh people in 11 districts on Wednesday, spread to six more districts on Thursday affecting 4.23 lakh people, it said.
Haque, wanted in several cases in Assam and North Bengal was also in-charge of the outfit's foreign affairs department
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association has published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".
The total number of people killed in flooding and landslides in the state this year has gone up to 76. While 50 people were killed in inundation, 26 died due to landslides.
Encephalitis playing havoc in north Bengal, where 102 people have died, has spread its tentacles to Assam as well taking 43 lives there.
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