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Here people share food with dogs

Supaul/Madhepura: Fleeing the deluge, people are sharing their meals with dogs, goats and stray animals but the devastation has not stopped robbers and musclemen from having a field day in the marooned areas of north Bihar, now beyond the reach of law enforcement agencies.

“Snakes and cats have taken shelter atop trees with people.... Goats and dogs are sharing meals with men,” says Vibha Devi, who left her house in Balua Bazaar, one of the worst-hit blocks in Supaul district to take shelter at her parent’s place at Karnapur village.

Faced with an uncertain future, thousands of men, women and children carrying suitcases, bedrolls and sacks containing whatever they could take before leaving their inundated homes, can be seen fleeing to safety, with cattle and dogs in tow, on the 28-km stretch of NH 106 between Madhepura and Saharsa.

Prayers

At a relief shelter at Triveniganj in Supaul district, women were engaged in prayers to propitiate ‘Kosi maiya’ as the swelling river showed no sign of receding.

Human misery notwithstanding, unscrupulous elements are making hay, with the sun shining only for them.

Dinesh Mandal of Rampur in Madhepura district sold the buffalo he bought for Rs.10,000 last year for just Rs.500. Sabiya Devi of Sirisiya sold her goat for a meagre Rs.100.

“How to escape death.... how to escape the fury of mother Kosi are the questions uppermost on the minds of people,” says Dinesh.

Then there are local toughs fleecing the hapless flood victims. “I, along with about 20 others, boarded a boat taking it to be one of the relief boats of the government. Once we reached midstream the boatman started demanding Rs.3,000 to drop us at a relief camp barely two km away and threatened to leave us if we did not pay. We had to give them the money,” said Om Prakash of Murliganj block in Madhepura district. — PTI

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