Villagers in Bihar gear up to stop floodwaters

Bandhar (Bihar), July 14 : Villagers in Bihar's Bandhar District took an initiative to repair a river bund (embankment) that they consider is vital for their village from getting flooded.

Located near the catchment area of Trimuhaani dam, Banghar village has faced the wrath of floods several times.

Men and women of the village have put everything on hold and marshalled all their meagre resources to save their village and agricultural lands from flooding.

"If this bund gets destructed, then it will destroy the whole village. This is the reason that we are using our own implements and manpower to repair this bund leaving all other work behind because Government is not at all considering this matter," said Behari Lal Baitha, a villager.

According to the villagers, the bund was built over five decades ago, which has now got damaged, and often the water from the catchments areas floods many villages from Banghar to Hasanpur.

"We got so fed up with the Government that we started with the repair work on our own. Almost one month ago, we had sent a complaint and submitted a letter to Ramchander Paswan who said that he would refer it to the Zilla Parishad. The Zilla Parishad forwarded it to the Collector, but there has been no result. That's why we have decided that if we want to protect ourselves from this destruction then we can't wait for the Government to act," said Umesh Paswan, another villager.

This bund was basically made to prevent flood waters from the river Bhagmati storming the villages.

ANI