Rescue operations in Bihar inadequate: Sharad Yadav to PM

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) Expressing concern over ''inadequate rescue operations'' in the flood-hit Bihar, Janata Dal(U) chief Sharad Yadav today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure urgent evacuation of the trapped people.

In a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Mr Yadav sought to underline that other relief announced by him was meaningless unless people for whom it was meant were saved from meeting their watery grave.

Underlining that about 25 lakh people in the state were trapped in water without any food and shelter, Mr Yadav today called for greater involvement of the Army and also of Navy and the Airforce .

''After visiting the affected areas I felt that sufficient sources of the Army were not being utilised,'' he told reporters here Mr Yadav said that the number of boats were quite insufficient to reach all the people trapped there. Low number of boats causes overloading resulting in accidents, he added.

The JD(U) leader said he would also meet the Prime Minister tomorrow to discuss the flood situation in the state.

Mr Yadav met External Affairs Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee this morning and urged him to take up the issue of breach of the dam in Nepal which was causing the flood in the Kosi river.

He said Nepal should be pressed to repair the breach on a war footing.

A delegation of the NDA, of which the Janata Dal(U) is a constituent, is leaving for Bihar on September three to take stock of the situation in the flood-hit areas, he said.

The state administration was doing its best but the magnitude of calamity was so high that it needed bigger resources, Mr Yadav felt.

UNI NAZ RN1623