Arunachal highway washed off in landslide; students crossing dangerously flooded roads

ITANAGAR: Even after two years of the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Ministry's Rs.35 crore financial sanction for an embankment in Mebo, the schemes have proven to be a grand failure to protect the rural areas from flood and erosion to date.

The citizens of the Siang belt of Arunachal Pradesh facing drastic floods and landslides due to heavy downpours for many days and a rise in the Siang river which is flowing above the danger level.

The overflowing water followed by a landslide has washed off the highway between Yingkiong the headquarter of Upper Siang district and Pasighat town the headquarter of East Siang district.

In between, the government has announced the reopening of schools and colleges from September 1, due to which students had to cross these flooded roads on account of reaching Pasighat.

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Students from various villages of Siang district are now moving towards Pasighat and Aalo town to start their offline classes but road blocking due to landslides is hampering the movement of vehicles.

River erosion has taken a serious turn in the Mebo subdivision in East Siang district as the swelling Siang river has devoured a number of school buildings and croplands there.

The river has completely swallowed the Sigar lower primary school compound and gripped several acres of fertile croplands in Motum and Ralling. It also washed away the girls’ hostels of the Borguli secondary school. The sericulture farm and the department’s SPT office building in Borguli, along with several bamboo groves, orchards and horticulture gardens have also been washed away.

The turbulent river water also breached the Mebo-Dhola PWD road between Borguli and Serum and is posing a serious threat to the existence of Serum village.

Floodwater also inundated a large area in Mer-Gadum in Lower Mebo.

The Siang was still flowing above the danger level at Komlighat.

Officials of the Pasighat water resource division said that a proposal for an anti-erosion project covering both banks of the Siang river, with an estimated cost of Rs 370 crores, has been submitted to the technical advisory committee of the state government for approval.

The DoNER Ministry had sanctioned Rs 35 crores as one-time central financial assistance for erecting an embankment in Mebo two years ago. However, the schemes failed to protect the rural areas from flood and erosion.

Siang DC Atul Tayeng visited Suple village on Sunday to take stock of the damages caused by the recent torrential rain and flood in the Simang and the Hubbung rivers.

He visited the site where a Bailey bridge that connected six upstream villages collapsed on 26 August. He also met the flood victims whose houses were swept away by floodwater. The DC directed the department concerned to submit a report on the damages and the proposed measures for early restoration.

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