Flood Situation in the flood affected state of Bihar is deteriorating day by day as water level is rising because of continuous rainfall. Breach in Kosi embankment at upstream Kuaha village in Nepal had caused the floods in the state. Because of the breach Kosi river changed its course and started to flow on the 200 hundred years’ old route. It affected more than three million(30 lakh) people. Since August 18, more than thirty lakh people are sitting on their rooftops waiting for relief under the continuous downpour even without shelters over their heads. Reality Thousands of people have not eaten nothing even for more than seven days. Situation is more grim in the marooned remote towns and villages. Situation is so grim that even after two weeks of floods only 5 lakh people could be evacuated from the flood affected areas. It is being expected that situation will deteriorate more as the time will advance. According to the government sources, till Monday, 90 people have be reported to be killed in the floods. But according to the unconfirmed reports death toll will in thousands as thousands of people have been missing or have been washed away in the current of the water. Situation is so grim that relief workers have not succeeded to reach the remote areas even after two weeks. Responsibility Government had constructed hundreds of miles of embankments and Bheemnagar barrage more than four decades ago, Since then area was considered to be safe from the floods. But political crisis in Nepal and the callousness and carelessness of Indian officials and engineers who were responsible for the repair of the embankment paved the way for century’s worst calamity in the state. Previous Bihar government took no precautionary measures to repair the embankment despite the repeated reports of the concerned officials. Step-motherly relations between the state and center government added more to the problem as it took one week for the Chief Minister to get the required help to carry out rescue and relief operation from the center government. Relief Operation It took two weeks to the government to understand that work should be done war footing to carry out rescue work in the flood affected areas. Army pressed 16 additional columns of men to intensify the relief and rescue operations on Monday. A total of 3300 army personal have been pressed into action. Except [...]
Archive for September 1st, 2008
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Sant Seechewal Does What The State Government Could Not Do
September 1st, 2008 
krishna Breach Sant Baba Sukhjeet Singh Seechewal, who is world famous environmentalist for o his Kali Bain cleansing efforts once again has hit the headlines. This time he has accomplished the task of plugging the breach in Sutluj river at the Kaalu Mandi Village of Jalandhar district of the state of Punjab. This breach had happened in the river because of the increased flow of water on the midnight of August 15. More than 30 villages had been submerged in the water which had forced the local population to shift to the safer places. It had damaged the crop on thousands of acres. Task State government was yet to initiate the process of plugging the breach. State Drainage Department had claimed that it take the minimum time of ten days to accomplish the task. But Baba Sukhjeet Singh Seechewal and Baba Kashmira Singh came to the rescue of the distressed people. They accomplished the task of plugging the breach by creating a 400-feet ring ‘bandh’ just in the period of three and a half day with the help of villagers and volunteers of religious deras. More than one lakh sand bags were used to plug the breach. Bhakra-Beas Management Board(BBMB), that controls most of the dams in north Indian, had already warned the government of increase in water release because of the rise in water level in Bhakra Dam. Anticipating the possibilities, volunteers have decided to raise the height of the bandh by 4 feet. Tradition Sikh Saints as well as religious bodies have always helped the people whenever any natural calamity happens. It is just a single example. Whether it was earthquakes in Gujarat, Kashmir or natural calamity in Florida, Sikh organizations have always helped the affected people . Sant Seechewal’s this step is the example of the prevailant tradition in Sikhism. But It has also shown the way to the society to effectively handle the critical situations. He just motivated the people and the work was done by their selves. Though it was the responsibility of the state government but some times involvement of general population becomes necessary.
