Floods maroon Eastern India

Siliguri/Gonda (UP)/Patna, Aug 31: Heavy monsoon rains hit badly the life of people of eastern India. Following heavy monsoon rains in the catchment areas, more areas in the plains of eastern India are reeling under floods as the Himalayan rivers overflow. The rising level of water in the Teesta river prompted the local administration in Siliguri district of West Bengal to sound a flood alert on Saturday, Aug 30.

Around 1,000 people have been affected due to floods while train services have been disrupted."Business has come to a halt. Houses have collapsed and the fields used for farming have been inundated," said Lakshman Chhetri, a resident. In Gonda city of Uttar Pradesh, the flood situation was equally grim inundating large areas of land. Transport links were snapped forcing the people to wade through water for long distances.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has termed the floods in the state as a catastrophe, reviewed relief measures at a meeting in Patna and assured NGOs support in reaching relief to thousands of marooned people.

"Those NGOs which are in a position of running relief camps, we will help them out and give them the responsibility of running it. We will provide all the facilities," said Nitish Kumar.

Atleast 12 districts in Bihar are reeling under floods due to overflow of Kosi and the river changing course following breach in a dam in Nepal.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi made an aerial survey of the devastation in Bihar on Thursday and announced 228 million US dollars in aid.

ANI