Residents of flood-affected Bhawanipur village, situated on the bank of river Sikarahana in East Champaran’s Sagauli block, are now resorting to demolish their houses in a bid to save construction material and shift elsewhere before the flood causes further damage.
HT visited the village on Tuesday, where people were demolishing their houses and loading bricks, doors, doorposts, windows etc. in a trolley engaged in ferrying the material to safer places.
Drenched in sweat and going about extricating bricks, a local Lalan Sah said, “We never know when the river engulfs our house so are trying to save some construction material.”
According to locals, erosion by the swollen river damaged over 100 houses in past one month.However, officials are conducting an assessment in this regard, district magistrate Shirsat Kapil Ashok said on Wednesday. “Compensation for houses will be given as per norms,” he said.
Officials at the block level also admitted to sharp erosion caused by the river in few villages of the block. “With the present current of the river, it is not possible to launch repair work immediately. However, we making all possible efforts to rush relief material to affected people,” the officials said, refusing to be identified.
When contacted, additional district magistrate (ADM) of district disaster management Anil Kumar said about ten panchayats in the block are affected by floodwater from Sikarahana.
Meanwhile, circle officer Dharmendra Kumar Gupta said four community kitchens are being run to provide food to the displaced people. “We are planning to start four more such kitchens from Thursday,” he said.
The district administration has also distributed 3,000 plastic sheets and pressed two NDRF teams, two private boats and a drone into services to meet any eventualities. “Rescue and relief works are going as per guidelines of the disaster management department,” said subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Priyaranjan Raju.
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