Six hurt as police fire on agitating flood victims in Bihar

At least six people were injured when police opened fire to disperse a mob of agitating flood victims in Bihar's Patna district Tuesday.

"Police resorted to firing to control an angry mob protesting against the unfair distribution of relief for flood victims at Ghoshwari block near Barh in Patna," a district police official said.

The flood victims protest turned violent when some of them pelted stones at police and attacked officials. "The officials had to flee from the block office to save their lives after a group of protesting flood victims attacked them," the police official said.

Flood victims in the state's Nalanda district Monday broke into a government warehouse and looted food grains to protest inadequate government assistance, officials said.

"Hundreds of flood victims forcibly broke open the lock of a warehouse of the state disaster management department at Sarmera block office in Nalanda in the presence of police and looted rice and wheat," district official Sunil Kumar said.

Last week, hundreds of flood victims staged a protest in Nalanda, a part of the state's 15 flood-affected districts, demanding adequate relief.

Flood victims in Saharsa, Supaul and Khagaria also staged protests last month against insufficient relief given to them.

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 the evacuation of thousands of people.

Till date, floods have claimed over 20 lives, including 12 in Nalanda.