Patna, (Bihar Times): Heavy rainfall on the foothills of Himalayas in Nepal has flooded a large part of north Bihar. Rise in water levels in Kosi, Bhagmati, Kamla-Balan, Gandak, Kamla, Adhwara group of rivers has devastated many villages in Gopalganj, Samastipur, Katihar, Supaul, Darbhanga, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Khagria, Purnea, Araria, Sitamarhi, East and West Champaran districts. Even the south Bihar district of Nalanda, which incidentally is the chief minister Nitish Kumar’s home-district, was recently devastated by floods.
North Bihar has been ravaged by floods just after the state administration took a sigh of relief after water receded from most part of premier residential colonies of Patna. However, some areas are still under water even after about a month of water-logging.
Kusheshwar block in Darbhanga, known for famous temple, is submerged in water bringing life to a standstill. The entire block has been cut off from the rest part of the state.
The diara area of Gopalganj district has been facing similar situation with the region cut off from the rest of the state for last couple of days.
Marooned people of Purnea, on the other hand, alleged that the district administration is yet to accept that their villages have been hit by flood. They charge that the officials are saying that it is simply water-logging and thus have not come to their rescue. The people are struggling to hold on to whatever little remains with them, after most of their belongings have been washed away by the floods.
So far two dozen people have lost their lives in the floods. This besides, about 100 people killed in Patna, Purnea, Supaul, Hajipur etc in boat and vehicle mishaps in the last one fortnight of heavy rainfall.
However cynical this might sound but the truth is even if the Union Minister for water resources hails from Bihar he would not be willing to solve the flood issue as that would mean providing further credibility to the excellent work being done by the current state government. If Laloo prasad yadav and his band of politicians that ruled (read ruined) Bihar for 15 years could not solve the issue, the central government with its lot of sycophant and utterly incapable ministers should not be expected to address the issue with any sincerity. The effective governance provided by the erstwhile Rabri aka Laloo government can be gaged from the fact that a district-town like khagaria did not have any electricity (not even for a second) for three months and for three consecutive years. That is just the tip of an iceberg, I must say.
Abhishek
rendezvous.anan@gmail.com
