Patna: Angry villagers in Bihar have encroached into the protected areas of the airport and tied their buffaloes on the runway to protest non-distribution of flood relief.
The flood victims captured the airport in eastern Bihar’s Bhagalpur district on Friday after their patience to have the relief ran short. The villagers displaced by floods had been camping at the Narayanpur block headquarters for the past 10 days seeking relief from the administration but as their requests went unheeded, they finally moved inside the protected area of the Bhagalpur airport and tied their cattle there as a mark of protest.
Floods have wreaked havoc in many districts of Bihar this time, claiming around 50 lives so far. As per an official report, floods have affected around two million population settled in 14 districts of Bihar, the worst affected being Nalanda which is the home district of former chief minister Nitish Kumar, Saharsa, Supaul, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Khagaria, Patna, Darbhnaga, Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi districts.
Reports said floods have badly affected 1,254 villages, completely destroying 2,800 homes and standing crops in over 100,000 hectares of land. According to disaster management department officials, 117,000 villagers have been evacuated from their flooded homes and shifted to relief camps.
The situation has been aggravated by the breach in embankments of major rivers in the state due to heavy discharge of waters caused by torrential rains in their catchment areas. In the past one week, some major rivers like Gandak, Kamala Balan, Bagmati and Saryoo have breached its mud embankments, bringing untold miseries to the people settled along them. Right now most of the rivers are flowing above the danger mark even as the meteorological department has predicted heavy rains in the next few days.
As the overall flood situation appears grave, Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi accompanied by water resources minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary conducted an aerial survey of the flooded areas on Friday afternoon and ordered the officials to speed up relief works. The chief minister said that he will initiate severe punitive action against officials found neglecting their duties.
