Bihar floods: Traffic on NH-28 connecting Delhi with Assam disrupted

PATNA: The vehicular traffic on the National Highway-28 connecting Delhi with Assam came to a standstill on Friday morning following huge discharge of flood waters in the river Gandak and subsequent breaches in embankments at four places in Gopalganj district late on Thursday night.
Gopalganj district magistrate Arshad Aziz said on Friday that the movement of vehicles on the NH-28 was stopped early on Friday morning as a precautionary measure. “There is strong pressure of flood water on the road near Dumaria Ghat bridge on the river Gandak. Officials are monitoring the situation constantly,” he told TOI over the phone.
Around 4.36 lakh cusecs of water was discharged from Valmikinagar barrage on India-Nepal border following heavy rains on Wednesday, which increased pressure on the NH-28 near Dumaria Ghat in Gopalganj district on Thursday night. "The officials rushed to the site in the night and decided to stop the traffic," Aziz said.
The district administration's move to stop vehicular traffic on the NH-28, which is part of the East West Corridor, has led to a 22km long queue of vehicles, mostly carrying goods. The old bridge at Dumaria Ghat over Gandak connects Gopalganj with East Champaran district and Muzaffarpur. On an average, around 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles crosses the Dumaria Ghat bridge every day.
On Thursday, the approach road of Jadhopur-Mangalpur bridge was breached near Rajwahi village, snapping links of Gopalganj with Bettiah in West Champaran. Though repair work was started soon, the traffic on the road is yet to be restored, a source in the Gopalganj district magistrate's office said.
With the disruption of the traffic on the NH-28, the links of Gopalganj district headquarters with Saran district have also been snapped. Saran embankments have developed breaches at four places under Barauli, Majha, Sidhwalia and Baikunthpur blocks in Gopalganj district.
Authoritative sources said that the breaches in the main Saran embankment has led to threat of flood waters inundating over 12 villages in the district. The embankment breached near Devapur and Sarfara villages under Barauli block and Puraina under Majha block in Gopalganj district.
Gopalganj executive engineer Gyaneshwar Raman said that efforts were on to repair the breaches in Saran embankment. People from nearby villages were being evacuated to safer places as a precautionary measure.