Speed Post News Network
Bettiah : Though the water level of Gandak Barrage, Valmikinagar, in West Champaran district has started receding, the people in the low lying areas under Bagaha, Sidhav, Piparasi, Madhubani, Bhitaha,Thakaraha, Jogapatti, Bairia, Nautan, Ramnagar, Gaunaha, Sikta, Mainatand, Narkatiaganj and Lauria blocks in the district are still perced on higher platforms. West Champaran DM Nilesh Deora on August 16, 2017, said that 6.82 lakh people of 366 villages under 175 panchayat under 13 blocks have been affected by the flood and leading a miserable life. The flood has so far claimed nine lives in the district.
Displaced persons of remote blocks, where road communication has been cut off, are facing food and drinking water problems due to the flood which has also damaged the standing crops. All schools and colleges in the district have been closed by the order of the DM, West Champaran, Deora. The flood has completely devastated Gaunaha and Bhitaha blocks in the district. The flood has damaged 163 houses in the district, sources said. As the local authorities remain indifferent to the plight of people of diara area, majority of them leave their houses during flood and return only after the flood recedes.
CPI(ML) leader Birendra Gupta alleged that relief materials were not reaching remote areas and the number of countryboats deployed to rescue flood affected people was inadequate. Medical teams are not distributing ORS packets, anti- diarrhoea and anti- venom medicine among the people. They are also not spraying bleaching powder in drains and pits either, he said.
Gupta further said that the Piparasi -Pipara embankment breached at 33.38 km near Chandarpur under Bhitaha block on August 15, 2017, due to negligence of flood control engineers and contractors.The government should order a probe into it by an independent agency, he said. He claimed that about 10,000 people have taken shelter at various places in Kushinagar district in UP.