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Flood toll touches 42

With fresh areas submerged, the toll in the North Bengal floods has shot up to 42. About three million people in five districts have been affected so far.

In the worst affected Malda district, the fate of thousands are at stake with the Ganga maintaining an all-time high of 26.31 metres and threatening the Manikchak area, official sources said.

Abnormal rainfall in the past few days aggravated the situation in Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur and Coochbehar districts. The swirling rivers have breached embankments and triggered erosion at several places.

A nine-member central team, led by Union Agriculture Secretary Paul Joseph is scheduled to visit the affected areas of Malda and Murshidabad on a four-day tour from Saturday.

The state government on Friday sanctioned Rs 60 million more for relief operations. Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said in Calcutta that the administration was in a bad shape financially and would demand for a central allocation to meet the situation.

Chief Minister Jyoti Basu reviewed the overall situation in one of the three rounds of high level meetings, attended by, among others, Dr Dasgupta, Home (police) Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and Panchayat Minister Surjakanta Mishra.

UNI

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