ANWARUL HODA/ PATNA
Death toll due to floods in Bihar has risen to 205, with the recovery of 33 more bodies. The situation has worsened in the state as new areas in Darbhanga, Samastipur, Gopalganj and Siwan districts have been inundated.
Breaching of river embankments further aggravated the situation. Several rivers, including Bagmati, Kamla Balan and Gandak are flowing above the danger mark. Over one crore people in 19 districts are affected. 28 NDRF, 16 SDRF and seven teams of Army are engaged in relief and rescue operations.
According to the state Disaster Management department, a total of 28 National Disaster Response Force teams comprising 1,152 personnel with 118 boats are involved in rescue and relief operations. Also, 16 teams of the State Disaster Response Force comprising 446 personnel are helping people in the flood-hit areas with 92 boats. Besides, over 1800 community kitchens are catering to 3.72 lakh people in several flood-hit areas.
According to NDRF press release its teams are on war footing to combat the flood fury by leading from the front in worst flood affected areas of Supaul, Kishanganj, Motihari, Bettiah, Purnea, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Araria, Gopalganj, Katihar, Sitamari, Saran and Khagaria. Besides rescue operations, NDRF teams are ferrying relief materials in NDRF boats and distributing among the flood victims in far flung areas.
All efforts are being made to reach and rescue the maximum people. Yesterday, NDRF rescued 05 persons, evacuated 7,185 persons and 25 livestock from flood affected areas. Besides, Approx. 200 qtl relief materials have been distributed among the flood victims. Medical components of NDRF teams comprising of doctors and paramedics are relentlessly engaged in providing medical assistance and provided medical assistance to 648 flood affected persons. 27 teams are operational in Bihar.
Meanwhile, train services continued to be affected. An East Central Railways statement said 39 trains have been cancelled as water overtopped tracks. The cancelled trains included 12235 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani, 12424 New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani till August 20.
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Uma Bharti reviews flood situation in country
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti held a high-level meeting in New Delhi yesterday to review the flood situation in the country and the action being taken in this regard. She directed the concerned organizations under her Ministry to extend all possible help to the affected people. Ms Bharti also directed Central Water Commission (CWC), Ganga Flood Control Commission and Brahmaputra Board to undertake an exercise to identify and map reaches vulnerable to erosion and landslide along the banks of the rivers.
The Minister was briefed about the pro-active steps taken by the CWC during the floods. She was also apprised that the Ministry has issued seven specific district-wise advisories on anticipated floods. The ministry has also issued dam-wise advisories for water release to facilitate early NDRF and SDRF deployment and operation of reservoir gates.
