Patna:
As many as 160 people have died and 5.4 million others affected due to floods in Bihar this year, a Disaster Management official said today.
The Disaster Management Department Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Vipin Kumar Rai said that as many as 20 districts of Bihar have been affected with floods of which the river Ganga has wreaked havoc in ten districts like Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar, Saran, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Vaishali, Begusarai.
The Disaster Management Department has provided compensation to the kins of victims. People who are affected have been shifted to safer places, he said.
Relief and rehabilitation works have been launched on war footing. One quintal foodgrain has been provided to each family in 20 flood-affected districts, Mr Rai said. He added that till date 2.9 lakh quintal foodgrain has been distributed among the affected people. The affected families have also been granted relief of Rs 24.32 crore so far.
A total of 50,550 polythene sheets have been distributed, while 2,799 boats pressed into service to ferry the affected people from one place to another, he said.
Teams of state disaster response force and national disaster response force have been deployed to bring the flood-affected people to safer places, Rai said.
With regard to flood situation in Patna, he said the situation was under control and being monitored at the level of the chief secretary on day-to-day basis.
A safety wall has been created from Nasriganj to Ranighat, while 20 sluice gate and porous points at 130 places have been sealed to prevent flood-water from spreading to the state capital, he said.