Tripura floods: "Top priority rescue, relief operations," says CM Manik Saha

Agartala (Tripura) [India], August 22 (ANI): Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Thursday said that the administration is giving top priority to rescue and relief operations and added that he is monitoring the situation, amid heavy rainfall across various districts in Tripura over past three days, that has led to severe flooding in several parts of the state.
He said, "I have information that there is a depression in the Bay of Bengal and due to this rain happening, there has been a lot of impact of the depression in almost every district, I was monitoring from Delhi".
"I talked to every concerned department and reviewed the flood situation. Heavy rain occurred in Tripura. I had never seen this kind of rain in Tripura before there were many instances of landslides. Many rivers have come above the danger level," the chief minister said.
"NDRF, SDRF, BSF, Police and volunteers are engaged in the rescue operation".
CM informed that there are 321 relief camps operating in the state currently.
He stated "I ordered to rescue people from low-lying areas through boats. As per the information I received there are 321 relief camps and around 30,000 people are staying in those camps. we are ensuring the food, health and hygiene of the people stranded in the camps. 1 NDRF team from Assam has already arrived and 4 teams from Arunachal Pradesh are to arrive soon".
He stressed that the priority of the government is to rescue people stranded in unsafe places.
He said "The priority is to bring back people from the unsafe places to safe places and provide them food. Then we will look into the restoration process. The rain may continue till 24 to 25 August, so we will take steps of restoration after the rain will lessen down".
He said there has been a lot of damage to the agricultural sector.
"We are ready and the central government has assured us to help. I will go on the ground and monitor the affected areas" he added.
Taking to X, CM Manik Saha shared, "In the last two days, heavy rains have caused flooding in various districts of the state. The administration is engaged in relief and rescue operations with the highest priority. The state government is regularly informing the central government about the flood situation. It was initially reported that apart from the destruction of houses, livestock, roads, electricity and agricultural crops were also damaged."
He said that the joint initiative of NDRF, SDRF and local administration is in full swing to rescue the citizens at various places.
"Citizens are being rushed to safe shelters from vulnerable areas, especially along the river banks. The administration is fully on the side of the people; I appeal to the people not to listen to unnecessary rumours. I earnestly request the people of the State to exercise utmost caution and help the administration. We need patience and courage to stand next to the affected people. Let's pray to the almighty for everyone's well-being," he added.
CM Manik Saha said that this kind of situation was unprecedented and this much rainfall never happened in the past. He said that in the South district, the amount of rainfall recorded was 375 mm.
CM Saha said, "Spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and briefed him on the current situation arising out of severe flood situation. I also requested to dispatch additional NDRF teams to support our response efforts. The Home Minister assured me of all possible support during this crisis. I am grateful to him for providing all possible support to us at this hour."
Meanwhile, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected to continue over Tripura for the next two days, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). (ANI)