Rains spoil pre-Durga Puja mood in northeast

AGARTALA/GUWAHATI - Medium to heavy rains over the past three days have badly affected life in most parts of the northeastern region in the run-up to the Durga Puja festival, beginning next week.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre officials in Guwahati, a depression formed over west central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal earlier this week had moved to northeast India and Bangladesh Friday.

“Under its impact, rain and thundershowers occurred at most places in northeast India during the past two days,” the officials said, adding that the depression was expected to be dissolved by Saturday evening.

Preparations for the Durga Puja celebrations have been adversely affected due to the rainfall and most puja organisers, businessmen and revellers are worried over the late monsoon rain.

“Our pre-puja business is tremendously affected due to the heavy rains as most people remained indoors due to the showers,” said Sadip Saha, a cloth trader in Agartala.

The agriculturists also foresee adverse effect on the winter crops due to the heavy rains.

“Large quantities of crops ready for harvesting were submerged in most parts of the plains and low lands in Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya due to the rains,” said an official of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

In Mizoram, incessant rains have created cracks on the surface leading to damage in many houses in Mamit township on the Mizoram-Tripura border and Ngopa village on the Mizoram-Manipur border in western Mizoram.

“Many families have been displaced and more than 60 houses and churches have been damaged due to the cracks,” Mizoram relief and revenue department officials told reporters in Aizawl.

The government was making arrangements for alternative land for construction of houses for the displaced families.

Reports from different places of the mountainous state said that the downpour has also led to massive landslides in many places.