Hungry and desperate for food, over 100 flood victims in Bihar's Nalanda district broke into a government warehouse and looted food grain on Monday to protest inadequate assistance given to them by the government, officials said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that her administration will stand by Alapan Bandyopadhyay in the tussle with the central government which has seen the former chief secretary of the state being recalled to Delhi and later served a notice by the Union Home Ministry for allegedly violating the Disaster Management Act, by not attending a meeting called by the prime minister.
A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanded central assistance of Rs 12,000 crore to tide over the drought in 33 of the 38 districts in the state, opposition leaders appeared keener to politicise the issue by portaying themselves as champions of millions of drought-hit farmers.
'Villages are much better prepared than towns as far as COVID-19 is concerned.'
The flood situation on Sunday worsened in Bihar where two more people lost their lives taking the death toll to 36, while flood waters entered fresh areas, pushing up the number of affected districts to 17.
The Ganga has crossed the danger mark in West Bengal, Bihar and neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh where Yamuna river is also in spate, while heavy rainfall has created a flood-like situation in some parts of Rajasthan where six persons have died so far.
Heavy rainfall and high speed wind has badly affected normal life in Bihar in last 24 hours because of cyclonic storm Phailin impact of cyclonic storm. "More heavy rains are expected in Bihar in next 24 hours," a met department official said.
'I feel numb with the trauma we have been going through ever since we first got the news. For close to two weeks, we have been hearing my child will be rescued today. That today never comes'
The apex court urged the central government to update the drought management manual by December 31.
The MeT department has warned of rain or thunderstorm at isolated places in the state in the next two days.
Bihar has asked for forces to deal with the growing Naxal problem.
A high alert has been issued in the state after the landslide in Nepal. Precautionary measures have been completed," said Bihar's CM.
Four persons have died in Bihar since Monday in rain-related incidents due to the 'peripheral effect' of Cyclone Phailin, taking the death toll in the state to 14.
"The era of 'lalten' is gone. In the last six years consumption of electricity has increased 3 fold in Bihar," PM Modi said. "Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won't let those who have a history of making the state 'Bimaru' come near them," he added.
In Uttar Pradesh, two persons were killed since Tuesday in the floods which have affected around 8.7 lakh people in 987 villages of 28 districts in the state.
With reports of eight fresh deaths on Thursday, the total toll in Bihar flood increased to 135, with Bhojpur district accounting for 12 deaths in the second round of floods due to the swollen Ganga.
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
"The new food supply pipeline has also made it easier to supply better food in larger quantities to them, which is a good thing. Otherwise the situation remains the same," said Negi, who spoke to his brother.
Heavy rains in the last three days triggered flash floods in parts of Bihar, where 41 people have died so far, and inundated large areas in Assam and North Bengal, paralysing normal life and snapping rail link to the Northeast from the rest of the country.
In an open letter, Banerjee said the COVID warriors, including police, home guards, civil defence volunteers, correctional home and disaster management employees, will be administered the vaccine on a priority basis.
A week after threatened to return the "unutilised money" to Gujarat, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returned Rs 5 crore, which was given by the Gujarat government led by Narendra Modi for Kosi flood relief in 2008 to the state, on Saturday.
Modi also announced Rs 2 lakh aid to the kin of those who died in the deluge.
'Now they're talking about changing the Constitution; they feel they have no reason now to hide their intentions.'
The IMD DG said there should not be an impression that climate change leads to rise in the temperature, but on the contrary, it leads to erratic weather.
Thousands of people living in over hundreds of villages in different district of Bihar and Sahebganj district of Jharkhand state in India are facing serious threat to their health due to alarmingly high quantity of arsenic present in the ground water.
Over 26 people have lost their lives country in the aftermath of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in an order last week prohibited Chhath Puja celebrations at public places, including riverbanks, water bodies and temples, in view of the COVID-19 situation.
They said the incident occurred around 4 am when a 150-metre-long portion of the four-and-a-half-kilometer-long tunnel collapsed.
The court also directed that the NDRF should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation.
Although the Disaster Management Act for Covid containment measures, considered a hindrance in conducting the census, was withdrawn in March this year the Centre has not taken any further action on conducting the much-delayed population enumeration.
Home Secretary L C Goyal said 72 deaths were reported from the four states of Bihar -- 56, Uttar Pradesh -- 12, West Bengal -- 3 and Rajasthan --1.
The Centre on Sunday assured all help and assistance to Bihar for rescue and relief in the wake of emerging situation due to overflow in Kosi following a landslide in Nepal creating an artificial dam on the river and triggering possibility of floods.
Very heavy rains are expected over north Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim in the next 48 hours, with cyclonic storm Phailin now closer to the Chattisgarh-Odisha border, the National Disaster Management Authority has said.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up state governments for failing to disburse claims to the next of kin of COVID-19 victims, and issued a show cause notice to the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary as to why contempt action be not initiated against him.
The horrific disaster that has struck Uttrakhand has been assessed as a mix of natural and man-made. In fact, the various media analyses indicate we were asking for it and there were enough warnings and indications that this would happen, says Lt Gen (retd) Prakash Katoch.
The national capital, parts of which reeled under heatwave conditions for the past few days, had some relief on Wednesday with strong winds and partly cloudy skies witnessed during the day.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday allowed Chhath Puja celebrations at designated sites in the city except the banks of Yamuna river.
'Hundreds of engineers have complained that they are being threatened by criminals for allotment of contracts and extortion.'
Millions of devotees, particularly married women, took a dip in the rivers, ponds and makeshift water bodies and offered prayers as the four-day-long Chhath began amidst tight security on Monday in Bihar.
