With flash floods washing away a major bridge and landslides blocking the only road connecting the Brahmaputra Valley, nearly 7,000 people living in the Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh have been cut off from essential supplies and means of communication for over a month now. “It is a tough situation. Due to rains, the road link has been snapped and essential commodities can be flown in only depending on the weather condition,” said Duyu Ranka, Deputy Commissioner of the district.The bridge on the Deopani River and the RCC Bridge on the Ippipani River were washed away by the flash floods four weeks ago, delinking Anini — the district headquarters — with Roing, headquarters of Lower Dibang Valley. This has cut off the Idu Mishmi community from the rest of the world.“Our lives are totally dependent on the weather conditions. Since the road links are cut off, helicopters fly in the essential supplies to the region. However, in the last few days, the weather situation has been so bad, that we are still waiting for the choppers to come in with the supplies,” said Ranka.The Border Roads Task Force is trying to reconstruct the bridges. “But rebuilding a bridge is not easy,” said Ranka, adding that the BRTF may take a couple of weeks to finish the work and this too is is subject to weather conditions.
