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Journalism of Courage
With flood waters receding in most districts, Assam now faces the spectre of water-borne diseases in flood relief camps.
Reports from Sonitpur district said at least 50 persons, mostly tea labourers, have died due to diarrhoea in the past 10 days. Twenty-nine others have died in parts of Lakhimpur district due to jaundice, diarrhoea and malaria in the past two weeks as medical facilities can’t reach these parts due to large-scale damage to over 3,000 km of roads in the state. The casualties include six children between the ages of two and 10.
Though Assam Health Minister Bhumidhar Barman has issued strict orders to government doctors and other health officials to give priority to the flood-affected, it remains a fact that damage to roads and bridges has made it impossible for medical teams to reach every relief camp. Over 20 lakh people are lodged in nearly 1,600 relief camps set up by the state government. An equal number of people are living in the open with only a fraction of them able to afford a polythene sheet roof.
Highways throughout the state have become synonymous with relief camps as villagers have flocked to the highways with cattle and whatever else they could salvage. Over 80 lakh people in Assam have been directly affected by the deluge that has been equated with the floods that occurred after the earthquake of 1950.
While more than 180 persons have lost their lives due to the floods, a large number of them met watery graves when travelling in overloaded boats. On Thursday, policemen saved 19 persons after an overloaded country boat capsized in Morigaon district.
Meanwhile, complaints of flood relief material not reaching the affected have come in from several districts, compelling the state government to agree to the constitution of all-party committees to monitor distributing of relief materials. The decision to set up all-party committees at the district and sub-divisional levels was announced by CM Tarun Gogoi at an all-party meeting here yesterday.
