FRONT PAGE LOCAL NEWS MIDDLE EAST NEWS WORLD NEWS COMMENTARY BUSINESS SPORTS TRIBUNE PLUS
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
 
Search
This site The Web
    World News >>> 
Riot over flood aid, man killed

NEW DELHI (AP)
Millions remain in shelter camps

Police killed one man and injured four yesterday during a riot in northern India over the lack of aid for flood victims even as the government announced it was scaling back relief efforts.
Devastating monsoon floods have laid waste to much of northern India and Bangladesh in recent weeks, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing millions. Several hundred people attacked and ransacked a government relief office in the town of Sonebarsa in the state of Bihar, protesting the lack of aid, said local police chief Kunwar Singh. Police used batons to disperse the crowd, killing one person and wounding four others, he said.
The violence came as the Bihar government announced it was scaling back flood relief efforts and ending airdrops of supplies, as land routes were re-established to villagers who had been cut off by the waters. “The government sees that the situation has eased considerably, so we have decided to stop air-dropping relief from (today),” said Manoj Shrivastav, the disaster management secretary in Bihar, the Indian state hit hardest by the floods.
Shrivastav said most road and rail links to cut-off areas had been restored. Roads had already been cleared in Assam and Uttar Pradesh, two other Indian states badly hit by the floods.
At least 15 people died yesterday in Bangladesh, according to the government. No new deaths were reported in India.
However, there was widespread dissatisfaction with the ongoing government aid effort. The government has also been criticized for its poor planning for the annual monsoon and its slow response. In northern Bihar’s Pataura village, angry residents beat up a government official, claiming some of the aid promised them had disappeared. “We are supposed to get 4 liters of kerosene oil. Instead we only got two,” said Tarni Srivastava, adding that help only reached the area Saturday.
“Where were you all these days?” he said, after receiving his family allowance of 20 kilograms of wheat.
In the village of Vardaha some 25 kilometres down the road, no government aid had arrived yet and villagers were existing on rice handouts from local aid groups. Many were sick with the waterborne diseases that often strike after floods. “When we have no money for food how are we supposed to afford medicines,” said Edwari Devi who was trying to treat her two young daughters who were sick with high fever.

Last update on: 13-8-2007

 
 Related:
 
 
 








Copyright 2003 Alayam Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.
Developed and Maintained by Arabian Network Information Services W.L.L.