World Connect News
The fierce form of river Ganga in the central and eastern parts of Bihar has now started wreaking havoc in the urban and sub-urban areas of Begusarai district. The flood situation in the lower parts adjacent to the Municipal Corporation area of the district and especially in Ward No. 18 has become extremely dire. Due to the continuously rising water level of Ganga and the strong pressure of backwater, flood water has directly entered the residential settlements through safety drains and culverts. Within no time, more than 500 pucca and kutcha houses of Ward 18 were submerged in water. According to local estimates, a densely populated area of about 10,000 has been directly affected by this unprecedented deluge. Roads, approach roads, community buildings and Anganwadi centers are submerged in 4 to 6 feet deep water. The entire area has turned into a big lake, due to which the ward’s connectivity with the main market and the city has been completely cut off. People have become hostages in their own homes and are scrambling to reach safe places.
The situation in Ward 18 has worsened to such an extent that when people were sleeping in the dark of night, water suddenly started entering the houses. Within no time, the rooms, hallways and kitchens were filled with 4 to 5 feet of muddy water. The flow of water was so fast that people did not even get a chance to collect their essential household items. Grain sacks, wheat, rice, clothes, bedding, gas cylinders and electronic equipment started floating in the water. Many mud houses and mud walls could not withstand the strong pressure of water and collapsed.
To save their lives, hundreds of families along with their small children, women and elderly people are forced to take shelter on the roofs of pucca houses. Families are spending day and night by stretching polythene and tarpaulin under the open sky amidst the scorching heat and humidity. Those who did not have roofs, were somehow taking shelter in the pucca houses of their neighbours. Villagers say that they had not seen such a terrible spread of water in the last many years, which submerged the entire locality in a few hours.
Amidst this orgy of floods, the most serious crisis facing the residents of Ward 18 is that of pure drinking water and light. Almost all the hand pumps installed at public and private level in the ward have been completely submerged in flood water. Dirty and smelly water is coming out from the taps, due to which people are yearning for every sip of drinking water. Many families are forced to drink rainwater by storing it in pots or boiling muddy flood water, due to which the risk of infectious diseases like diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach ache and skin infection has increased rapidly.
Along with this, after water reached the electricity meters and transformers of the houses, the Electricity Department has completely stopped the electricity supply to the area in view of the safety of life and property. The entire ward is immersed in dense darkness for the last 48 hours. Mobile phones have been discharged, due to which people are not able to contact the administration or their relatives for emergency help. As soon as it gets dark, there is an atmosphere of panic among the people due to the arrival of poisonous snakes, scorpions and poisonous insects crawling on the houses and roofs along with the water. People are forced to keep vigil with sticks in their hands throughout the night.
Most of the people living in Ward 18 are middle class, daily wage labourers, small farmers and cattle rearers. This flood has broken the backbone of their livelihood. Dozens of Gothans in the locality have drowned in the flood waters. Dry straw, kutti and animal feed kept for cattle have been ruined by soaking in water. Due to lack of even a single piece of dry land, people are forced to tie their milch cows and buffaloes to stakes in the middle of water or carry them on rooftop stairs. The continuous mooing sounds of hungry and thirsty cattle are making the atmosphere more poignant.
Apart from this, the work of the laborers who used to earn daily food has come to a complete standstill for the last three days. Due to water logging in shops and small establishments, the economic loss has reached lakhs. People are running out of money in their pockets and there is no dry road left to reach the market.
Deep dissatisfaction and anger towards the local administration and public representatives is being seen among the flood victims of Ward 18. Local people allege that more than two days have passed since the flood waters entered, but till now no concrete relief work has been started at the administrative level. For the population of 10 thousand, not a single government boat has been arranged in the ward, so that the sick, pregnant women and children can be taken to safe places or hospitals.
The residents of the locality have demanded from the district administration and the Municipal Corporation that:
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With immediate effect, NDRF or SDRF motorboats should be deployed in the area so that the stranded people can be evacuated safely.
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For displaced families, government ‘community kitchens’ should be started immediately on high dams or roadsides, where children and elders can get cooked food.
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Door-to-door distribution of dry ration (chuda, sweet/jaggery, sattu, biscuits, matchsticks) and waterproof polythene sheets should be ensured.
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The mobile medical team of the Health Department will camp in the ward with ORS packets, essential medicines, bleaching powder and anti-venom injections through boats.
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Gallons and sachets of pure drinking water should be distributed through tankers or boats so that any epidemic can be prevented from spreading.
If the water level of Ganga does not subside in the next 24 to 48 hours and administrative assistance does not reach the ground, the humanitarian crisis in this ward of Begusarai may deepen further.