Flood hits 20,000 people under Dhaka Block, villagers demanding extension of Lalbakeya Bund

Satish Aditya
Motihari : The continuous heavy rainfall in catchment areas of rivers Jan and Lalbakeya, both originating from Nepal and flowing through Rautahat district, and subsequent flood has ravaged around 15 villages including Hirapur and Telhara under Dhaka Block in East Champaran district in North Bihar forcing the villagers to take shelter on railway tracks and Gurhenwa station on Raxaul--Sitamarhi Section of East Central Railways (ECR) under open sky.  Rautahat district borders Dhaka in East Champaran and Bairganiya in Sitamarhi district . Gaur is HQs of Rautahat district of Nepal.

The water of the two aforesaid rivers gushed into these 15 villages through Hirapur on July 27, 2019, wreaking havoc and affecting 20,000 people. Hirapur village is about 65 km away north from Motihari, headquarters of East Champaran district. The flood affected people of Dhaka Block are demanding extension of Lalbakeya embankment up to southern side of Hirapur. The Lalbakeya embankment ends at Hirapur village. The flood has completely damaged the paddy crop in the area besides uprooting several  electric poles and trees. The flood had earlier devastated the district on July 12 & 13, 2019. The flood fury continued even on July 30, 2019, though at a reduced speed.

Suraj Paswan, a villager, said our demand for extension of Lalbakeya embankmentup to on southern side was always ignored by the state administration. Ramakant Sah said, ” We have taken shelter on railway track but we were  provided  ‘Khichri’
for two days only by BDO, Dhaka.”  Surajo Devi alleged that flood victims were not given any relief or tarpolins or GR  of Rs 6,000 till date. ” Our cattle are going without fodder,” she added. SDM, Sikrahma, Gyan Prakash, said that the GR money was being transferred into the accounts of flood victims.

Former MLSA from Dhaka wanish Kumar Singh said that the Chief Minister of Bihar  should hold talk with Nepal government  via the Government of India to solve the flood problem. Baban Pandey, a senior congress leader, said, ” The people living in border areas of Bihar have been hit by the fresh spell of flood caused to heavy rainfall in catchment areas of rivers in Nepal.”

Raxaul MLA Ajay Kumar Singh  said that Gad, Sarisawa, Tilawe, which originate from Nepal  and meander their way into river Burhi Gandak in East Champaran, have inundated as many as 30 panchayats under Raxaul, Sugauli, Ramgarhwa, and Adapur    blocks in East Champaran district. All rural roads have been washed away and hundreds of thatched houses caved in due to the flood, he added.

The flood has also damaged  electric poles and transformers in the district. Pradeep Kumar, Superintending Engineer (SE), Electricity, said that 47 transformers were damaged in the flood in the district while around 50 electric polices were uprooted. All the damaged transformers were replaced with new ones at a cost of Rs 55 lakh and uprooted poles were being replaced, the SE said.