Rs 1,000cr evacuation for Bihar
In one of the biggest exercises of its kind anywhere in the world, over 25 lakh people marooned in the devastating Bihar floods are being evacuated.
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who made an aerial survey of some of the worst-affected parts, said the floods caused by the Kosi were a “national calamity”. At least 55 people have died so far. After his aerial inspection of the districts of Araria, Supaul, Madhepura and Saharsha along with the Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, the Union ministers Mr Shivraj Patil, Mr Lalu Prasad and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, and the Bihar Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, Dr Singh ordered the immediate release of Rs 1,000 crores and 1.25 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain.
He also announced relief of Rs 1 lakh each from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the next-of-kin of the dead. A high-level team will coordinate with the Nepal government to find a lasting solution to recurring floods in the state, he said.
A senior Union home ministry official said over 1.52 lakh persons had been evacuated. “While one Army column has been deployed in Madhepura, two additional columns have been deployed in Araria and Supaul districts. Ten teams of the National Disaster Response Force and 56 boats have been deployed. Altogether 31,348 people have been accommodated in 155 relief camps.
Thousands of families have been forced to take shelter in relief camps and on highways, canals, railway tracks and other elevated places. Children have separated from their mothers, and women were giving birth in open spaces. There are people who are struggling to survive by eating stale rice puff and drinking dirty flood water. Knowing well the cause of the Bihar floods, as it occurred due to a massive breach in the embankment of the Kosi river in Nepal, the issue figured prominently during a meeting here between the external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and the visiting Nepalese foreign minister, Mr Upendra Yadav, amidst reports that the Nepalese police were turning back flood victims.