Bihar flood victims face lathicharge

According to reports, hundreds of flood-affected people gathered outside the Bettiah block office in West Champaran district on Monday to seek relief. On finding inadequate relief material they shouted slogans against the administration and ransacked the block office. The violent crowd even pelted stones at policemen. This forced the policemen to resort to lathicharge, injuring 20 persons of which 10 were seriously wounded.

Meanwhile the Chief Minister on Monday appealed to international institutions for help to find a lasting solution to the recurring floods in the state. He said that his Government has drawn up an integrated flood relief and rehabilitation package that would require huge investments.

“The United Nations has said that Bihar has been worst hit by the flood and thereby, the international community should come forward to find a solution for this annual disaster. After all it is a big environmental problem,” Kumar said.

The Chief Minister said that his Government has drawn up plan to build special homes to fight floods and earthquakes. He said all the 28 flood-prone districts of the state were also vulnerable to earthquake, as they fall in the seismic zone.

“A huge amount of money would be needed for building such homes, and for that we need to borrow funds from international institutions like World Bank and Asian Development Bank,” Kumar said.

Kumar said that he had also taken up the matter with the Prime Minister at a meeting on Sunday and urged him to create a cell in the Department of Economic Affairs to pave way for international assistance. Apart from an immediate package of Rs 8,600 crore, Kumar said that he also urged the Prime Minister for extra allotment of kerosene oil for distribution among flood victims. “We have decided to give 10 litres of kerosene to each flood-affected family. For that we need an extra 180 lakh litres,” he added.