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Bihar, Bengal reel under fresh floods

A three-member central team comprising Defence Minister George Fernandes, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister of State for Agriculture Som Pal on Friday made an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Bihar.

The situation in several areas was grave and vast tracts of land were still under water, it noted.

The team that toured Katihar, Purnea, Darbhanga and Sitamarhi would apprise Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the situation and the relief measures taken by the state.

Bihar relief Special Secretary A K Sinha said the floods have affected more than 12 million people. He said 7,839 village of 26 districts bore the wrath of the weather gods. Property worth over Rs 1 billion and crops on nearly 275.8 million hectares of land have been washed away.

Sinha said relief operations were going on smoothly with the co-operation of the army and Indian Air Force personnel. The state has so far received 900,000 quintals of wheat from the Centre against its requirement of 2.4 million quintals.

He said as many as 171 relief centres were operating in the flood-affected areas. Over 6,040 boats are in service.

The overall flood situation in Assam, meanwhile, is gradually improving.

But in West Bengal, the wave of floods has spread to three more districts. Officials said the heavy downpour in South Bengal catchment areas in the past 24 hours and the consequent rise of the Padma river triggered off floods in Nadia, Bardhaman and South Twentyfour Parganas. Fresh areas of Murshidabad have also been flooded. The state has demanded Rs 6.05 billion from the Centre for relief measures.

In Guwahati, an all party meeting urged the Centre to release the required amount from the national calamity fund to provide relief and rehabilitation to flood victims.

In Shillong, Meghalaya Chief Minister B B Lyngdoh held an emergency meeting with cabinet colleagues and members from the flood-affected areas of West Garo hills to take stock of the situation.

UNI

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