Floodwaters Reach Nearly 30 Assam Tea Gardens, Minister Says
Assam's labour welfare minister says floodwaters have entered nearly 30 tea gardens statewide, 11 of them severely damaged, per the Labour Commissioner's own figures, as the state's wider flood toll climbs toward 75 dead.
Floodwaters have entered nearly 30 tea gardens across Assam, 11 of them extensively damaged, Assam's labour minister said Thursday.
Labour Minister Rameswar Teli said the damage will badly hurt tea production in the coming days. The figures come from reports compiled by the office of the Labour Commissioner, The Shillong Times reported. Teli did not name the gardens or the districts affected.
Speaking on the state's wider flood emergency, Teli put the overall death toll from this monsoon's flooding at about 70 to 75 and said it may rise as rescue teams keep searching areas that remain flooded and buried under mud and debris. That count covers the state as a whole, not tea garden workers alone.
The Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force are running relief and rescue operations, Morung Express and NewKerala reported. Debris and mud flowing in from neighboring Nagaland is complicating the search, and relief camps in the worst-hit districts are being supplied with food, drinking water, medicine and other essentials, Morung Express reported.
The state-wide count follows a narrower account four days earlier. As this office reported after the Nazira floods, a cloudburst in Nagaland breached the Dorika River embankment and submerged nearly all the tea estates of the Nazira sub-division in Sivasagar district, displacing thousands of workers within the estates.
Sources: The Shillong Times, "30 tea gardens damaged due to flood, says Assam minister"; Morung Express, "30 tea gardens damaged due to flood, says Assam minister"; NewKerala, "30 tea gardens damaged due to flood, says Assam minister".