Flash floods submerge Malda

It is difficult to repair the embankments as the river has been flowing above the danger level,said Naskar. The water remained stagnant between two roads in Ratua and Harishchandrapur.

Malda DM Sridhar Kumar Ghosh said at least 15,000 residents of 24 villages in Harishchandrapur and Ratua blocks have been affected and nearly 2,000 have been shifted to a safer place.

The district administration has distributed relief among the affected villagers. After visiting the affected areas,Mausam Benazir Noor,Congress MP from Malda North,said over 2,000 villagers have taken shelter on an embankment at Ratua after the villages were submerged.

No medical team visited the affected areas,she alleged and requested the district administration to send a medical team soon as there is a possibility of an outbreak of water-borne diseases in the area.

‘Hills lost Rs 600 crore in recent natural calamities’
Siliguri: Darjeeling hills incurred a loss of Rs 600 crore in Cyclone Aila and two landslides that took place this month. While Aila caused infrastructural loss of Rs 450 crore,the loss due to the two landslides was not less than Rs 150 crore, said state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen on Friday.

Sen who visited the affected areas of Darjeeling,Kurseong and Kalimpong in the last two days told mediapersons that the state government had allotted Rs 55 crore for relief and repair,which was progressing satisfactorily.

The district administration was asked to prepare a report on the loss due to landslides,which had extensively damaged roads in the hills,the chief secretary said.

He also asked the district administration to send the report to the state government in Kolkata to help prepare a schedule for undertaking repairs on a priority basis,he said. PTI