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Two groups clash in Muzaffarpur
Special Correspondent
| Desperate conditions worsen the situation |
PATNA: Two groups clashed in Muzaffarpur on Sunday on the issue of breaching an embankment.
While one group of villagers wanted to breach the Balua Mohammadpur embankment, the other was opposed to it. With the local people failing to reach a truce, senior officials have rushed to the spot to ease the tension.
On Friday, one person was killed and four were injured in police firing in Madhubani, over the issue of cutting of a rail track to let out flood water.
Desperate conditions have turned the situation explosive in the flood-swamped areas of the State where 11 million people are keeping their bodies and souls together with little by them.
In Katihar, displaced people who sought to cross the floodwaters on a boat were shot at by dacoits. Four of them sustained bullet injuries.
Such incidents have been on the rise with negligible relief and rescue efforts from the administration.
Four people reportedly died of diarrhoea in Madhepura, while over 25 are fighting for their lives.
Inadequate relief
Relief supplies are flown by four IAF helicopters — carrying about 320 packets in each sortie.
This is negligible given that 11 million flood-hit are starving. Dalits, as in Saharsa, are surviving on snails.
The State Government has not requisitioned Army boats and the transportation of relief by road is not possible.
The flood situation continues to be grave with fresh areas being inundated as in Muzaffarpur where the Baya river breached its embankment.
Four drown
Four persons were drowned when a boat capsized in Bagmati river in Darbhanga while nine persons were reported drowned in separate incidents in West Champaran district.
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