By IANS
Kolkata : Eastern India continued to wilt under floods and its aftermath as inundated Bihar battled food scarcity, rains continued to lash coastal Orissa and there were fears of an outbreak of water-borne diseases in Assam where floodwaters showed a receding trend.
Bihar has been the worst hit as hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and are without essentials including food, drinking water and medicines for days in the floods the UN says are the “worst in living memory”.
Nature’s fury has claimed over 80 lives, destroyed hundreds of homes and cut off several districts.
At several places in Bihar, the food scarcity had sparked riot-like situations as people fought over food packets. In a tragic incident Sunday, a 17-year-old boy fell off his roof and died while trying to catch a food packet being dropped by Indian Air Force helicopters.
The air force has so far dropped 4,640 relief packets including food and other essential items in the affected districts. According to officials, each five kg packet contains 4.5 kg of sattu (ground gram), half kg of salt, candles and a matchbox. There, however, is no drinking water.
Over 11.5 million of Bihar’s 82 million people have been affected in nearly 5,000 villages across districts like Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran and Madhubani.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sought more relief from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and food grains from Food Corporation India (FCI). Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil will visit the state Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal the Malda district administration sounded an alert Monday after the water level in the Ganga started rising steadily following heavy floods in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“The flood waters from Bihar have raised the water level to 24.94 metres at Manikchak Ghat point and it will continue to rise in the next three days,” said Soumen Misra, executive engineer, Malda irrigation division.
The Ganga has eroded 15 hectares of croplands in the district in the past five days.
“If the newly constructed two-km long embankment is breached in Kaliachak II area, it will be difficult to prevent floodwaters from gushing in,” said Misra.
Besides Ganga, the Mahananda and Fulohar rivers are in spate in the district, rendering over 450 families homeless.
The situation was improving in Assam as thousands of people started returning to their homes with floodwaters receding. A Central Water Commission bulletin Monday said the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries were showing a receding trend.
“The flood situation has improved considerably with no rains since Friday. People are heading back to their homes, but thousands of them are still living in makeshift shelters as their homes are filled with mud and slush,” Bhumidhar Barman, Assam revenue, relief and rehabilitation minister, told IANS in Guwahati.
A health alert was sounded in the northeastern state to prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases. “Teams of doctors and paramedics are on full alert and visiting flood-hit areas, although there are no reports of any outbreak so far,” said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
In Orissa, heavy rains, water logging and lightning wreaked havoc in coastal districts, including Cuttack and state capital Bhubaneswar, claiming seven lives so far.
Cuttack, 25 km from Bhubaneswar, was one of the worst hit, with over half a million people stranded in floodwaters as officials evacuated thousands from slums and low-lying areas to safer places.
The city recorded 33 cm of rainfall in just 10 hours Sunday – the highest in the last three decades. The state government has ordered the closure of all schools and colleges in Cuttack.
Business establishments in the city were badly hit with water entering shops and godowns, damaging goods.
Ironically, the office of Cuttack’s chief engineer (drainage), which oversees the drainage work across Orissa, was also inundated. Over 300 people, including officials and their families, were forced to spend nights at upper floors as water entered their homes.
“We are trying to pump out water from several low lying areas. High power diesel pumps have been deployed at various places across the city,” said Cuttack Collector Sujata Rout.
“We have declared two-day relief for the affected people and free kitchens will be opened for the worst hit. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated to safer places,” Rout told IANS.