Three Bihar districts put on high alert as heavy rain lashes Nepal

PATNA: Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asked the district magistrates (DMs) of West Champaran, East Champaran and Gopalganj districts to remain on high alert and keep a special vigil in the wake of heavy downpour in the catchment areas of Gandak river in Nepal in the last 24 hours.
The officials of the water resources department (WRD) and the disaster management department (DMD) have also been put on the alert.
Chairing a review meeting meeting through videoconferencing, Nitish also asked the DMs to inform the families living in the low-lying areas beside the Gandak river about the floodwaters through intensive propaganda by loudspeakers, so that the action of evacuation, if situation demands, could be executed speedily.
The CM asked the WRD officials to depute its engineers on all vulnerable points of the embankments alongside Gandak river to ensure its protection.
Nitish further asked the officials to keep the NDRF and SDRF teams, already deputed in the districts, on high alert so that quick action could be taken in any adverse situation.
WRD minister Sanjay Kumar Jha was also present at the review meeting.
Earlier, WRD secretary Sanjiv Hans informed the CM that there was a possibility of high rise in the water level of Gandak river in the wake of heavy downpour in its catchment areas in Nepal. Hans also assured the CM that the WRD was fully alert in the wake of heavy discharge of water in the river from Nepal side.
A senior WRD engineer told TOI that a major part of Nepal had been witnessing heavy downpour for the last three days because of the early arrival of monsoon there.
“Excessive rainfall over the past three days in the Himalayan foothills have led to dangerously high water levels in all the tributaries that meet in Gandak river in central Nepal. Now, the rainwater is running towards Bihar borders. Most of the rivers in central Nepal are these days flowing above their respective danger marks, which has led to concern in the Bihar government,” the engineer, who did not want to be identified, said.