Bihar flood-hit up the ante over relief drought

Flood victims in Bihar's Nalanda district Friday blocked roads for hours to protest inadequate assistance provided to them by the state government, police said.

Angry over lack of relief, the flood-hit people in Bihar Sharif, the district headquarters of Nalanda, staged a protest demanding adequate relief and compensation.

"The flood victims blocked the roads for hours, thereby disrupting normal life," a police official said.

Nalanda is one of the 15 flood-affected districts in the state.

More than 1.8 million people have been affected by the floods with major rivers, including the Ganga, Kosi, Gandak and Bagmati, submerging large tracts of land and forcing thousands to be evacuated.

A few days ago, flood victims in Saharsa, Supaul and Khagaria also staged protests against insufficient relief given to them.

Till date, floods have claimed 20 lives, including 12 in Nalanda alone, Anirudh Kumar, an official of the state disaster management department, said.

He said: "Rivers flowing above the danger mark are posing threat to the low-lying areas."

Over a dozen teams of the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force have been deployed in the flood-hit districts.