Ganga water level precarious in Bihar

CM conducts aerial survey of flood-hit districts

As the water level of the Ganga and many other rivers reached the danger mark at many places in Bihar, the Water Resources Department (WRD) on Friday cautioned people about floods in the state.

WRD Secretary Dipak Kumar Singh said: “There is a need to remain watchful about floods till September 10 across the state since the Ganga has reached the danger mark in most places. Discharge to tributaries has also been obstructed and may worsen the situation.”

The Bagmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla Balan and Adhwara group of rivers have also reached danger levels at various places in the state.

Singh said the breaches in the embankments of the Kamla Balan and Gandak rivers, in the Darbhanga and West Champaran districts respectively, had successfully been plugged in and strengthening work is being conducted on a war footing.

The WRD secretary added that all other embankments in the state are secure.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, accompanied by WRD Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected Saharsa, Supaul and Madhepura districts on Friday to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Kosi river belt.

Manjhi also held a meeting with senior officials of different departments and reviewed flood relief operations.

The Disaster Management Department (DMD) has launched full-fledged relief operations in the flood-hit areas of Bihar, as evacuation of critically-affected people has come to a virtual halt with no reports of further deaths or inundation.

DMD Officer on Special Duty Vipin Kumar Rai said: “The focus has now shifted to food grain and distribution of relief money. The list of flood-affected families is being prepared and each of them is being given one quintal grains and Rs 2,000 compensation.”

Rai said DMD teams had already distributed 298 quintals of rice and wheat, 2,794 quintals of flattened rice, 42 quintals of jaggery and 7 quintals of roasted gram powder and 23,326 polythene sheets among flood-affected families.

Altogether 14 districts - Nalanda, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Sheikhpura, Supaul, West Champaran, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Patna, Sheohar, Araria, Gopalganj and Khagaria – have been hit by floods this monsoon. Of these, Nalanda, Darbhanga and Sheikhpura are the worst affected.

Over 16 lakh people have been affected in the floods, out of which 1.16 lakh have been evacuated. From a figure of 49,000 people in 113 relief camps, only 38,000 remain, as many have chosen to stay with their relatives or return to their villages.

The floods have affected over 2 lakh hectare of agricultural land, including one lakh hectare of cropped land.The estimated crop damage is worth Rs 56.4 crore, according the DMD.