Alert issued in several parts of Bihar after heavy rain in Nepal

Patna: An alert has been issued in East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts of Bihar following heavy rain in catchment areas of Nepal.

Four lakh cusecs of water has been discharged from Gandak barrage. The people living along River Gandak have been advised to vacate their places and move to safer places.

The state government has instructed engineers to be vigilant round-the-clock. The flood situation continues to be grim in affected areas of the state.

Addressing the 10th meeting of Special Committee for Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR), Bihar Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, on Tuesday, had raised the issue of flood situation caused by rivers flowing into the state from neighbouring Nepal and said the ILR projects there should be taken up on a priority basis.

He suggested that ILR programmes having potential of irrigating more than two lakh hectare of land should be declared as National Project.

Stressing the need for speedy implementation of ILR projects, Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti also hoped National Water Development Agency will work with “more vigour” and complete already delayed programmes in a time-bound manner, during the meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Assam too has been struggling with floods with around 16 lakh people of 19 districts of the state affected as the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries continue to rise submerging houses, farm lands and wild life sanctuaries.