Rescue and relief operations picked up pace on Tuesday in flood-hit Bihar following improvement in weather, while light to moderate showers lashed several districts in Uttar Pradesh, even as the death toll in rain-related incidents in the country in last one week rose to 157.
Seven fresh deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh in incidents like drowning and lightning. So far 111 people have died since September 25 in the state where incessant rains have created flood-like situation in eastern districts.
Two persons died in Prayagraj and one each in Fatehpur, Pratapgarh, Firozabad, Bareilly and Siddhartnagar in rain-battered Uttar Pradesh.
The state government informed that the Ganga was flowing above the danger mark at Ghazipur and Ballia. The Kwano river was also flowing above the danger level at Chandradeepghat in Gonda, it said.
In Bihar, the death toll in rain-related incidents mounted to 30 even as relief and rescue operations gathered momentum with improved weather conditions and Centre's assistance.
In Nawada district, about 110 km from Bihar capital Patna, the bodies of two men who were swept by strong current in a river two days ago were fished out by personnel involved in rescue operations Tuesday morning.
Residents of marooned Patna localities such as Hanuman Nagar, Rajendra Nagar and Kankar Bagh woke up to roars of Indian Air Force helicopters hovering in the sky with food and other relief material.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy called flood situation in Bihar "serious" and assured all help to the state.
Reddy said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is working closely with the Bihar government, and other paramilitary forces are also ready to move if needed.
The Centre has dispatched 20 NDRF teams, comprising about 900 rescue persons, and pressed into service IAF helicopters to help flood-hit people in the state.
Six of the teams were deployed in Patna, which has witnessed very heavy rains and water logging over the past three days.
Two helicopters of the Indian Air Force were also deployed in rescue and relief operations.
The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba reviewed the flood situation in Bihar, where 16 districts have been affected by the deluge.
The Bihar government has informed the NCMC that due to extremely heavy rainfall in the state, along with high levels of water in the rivers, there has been flooding in 16 districts.
The NDRF, which has been engaged in relief and rehabilitation since Sunday while Patna was still being pounded by heavy rains, stepped up its efforts on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar surveyed the Shri Krishna Memorial auditorium which has been converted into a storehouse for relief material.
His deputy Sushil Kumar Modi inspected the sump houses which are working overtime to flush out waters from the inundated localities.
Heavy rains and discharge of water through sump houses has caused water levels in the Ganges and its tributary Punpun to rise above the danger mark, though so far there have been no reports of the sump houses encountering problem of reverse flow.
A flustered state water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha called the Farakka Barrage downstream "a sorrow for Bihar" and sought its dismantling "in the interests of the state".
The state government drew flak for poor drainage system in the capital from allies and adversaries alike.
Union minister Giriraj Singh, who reached his Lok Sabha constituency of Begusarai, launched a caustic attack on the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday, saying "floods seem to have become an occasion for celebration for the state administration".
"Flood relief has become a huge scam in Bihar, including Begusarai. The district administration had purchased about 300 boats between 2011 and 2014. Only a score of these are in a workable condition," said the BJP leader, whose party is an alliance partner of the Chief Minister's JD(U).
"The city has grown in an unplanned manner and scant attention has been paid to equipping localities with a sound drainage system", rued former Union minister and BJP MP Ram Kripal Yadav who had been the city's deputy mayor decades ago.
Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the main opposition party in the state, issued a statement alleging "massive corruption in drainage projects" and demanded a white paper on the same from the Nitish Kumar government.
A demonstration was staged by the district unit of the CPI(M) on the outskirts of the city which was called off after Union minister and local MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, flanked by BJP MLA Nitin Nabin, assured the agitators that their concerns will be squarely addressed.
Over 2.5 lakh people in West Bengal's Malda district have been affected by a flood-like situation owing to incessant rain.
Zilla Parishad president Gour Chandra Mandal said that the low-lying areas in all the blocks of the district have been inundated and a large number of mud houses have collapsed due to heavy rainfall over the past two days.
The district has received over 99.80 mm rain since 8.30 am on Monday
The emergency, operation theatres and the male and female medical wards of the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) were also inundated.
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