Guwahati: Rescue and relief teams tried to reach more than one lakh people on Saturday who have refused to move from their homes to relief camps amid flooding in Assam, authorities said.
Severe flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has submerged nearly 900 villages in the state, affecting five lakh people.
In Karimganj district, near the border with Bangladesh, about 65,000 people have moved to 20 government-run relief camps, but many have refused to leave their homes due to fears their cattle and food would be stolen.
''We have put into service 60 wooden boats, taking relief to these people right on the Bangladesh border, and we have requested the army to have their motor boats ready in case the water level rises again,'' said district magistrate Anurag Goel.
Southern districts of Assam have been cut off from the rest of the country for nearly a week with rail, road and communication links snapped after heavy mudslides blocked highways and railroad tracks.
Goel said about one lakh people are stranded in Karimganj district and that residents there have formed vigilante groups to prevent thieves suspected of coming from Bangladesh from stealing cattle and other belongings.
Karimganj has a 90-kilometer land and river line border with Bangladesh.
''Police and the Border Security Force troops are patrolling in speedboats to prevent criminal gangs from coming over from across the border,'' said Goel.
More than 120 people have been killed in India since the monsoon began working its way up the subcontinent on May 25, arriving a week before it was expected.
They include seven in Assam and five in neighboring Tripura - swept away by floodwaters or buried by mudslides and collapsing homes.
Other deaths have been reported in the states of Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
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