Five villages flooded in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Aug 20: Floodwaters from the Ganga inundated more than five villages affecting over 5,000 people in Manikchak block after a group of people flattened a dwarf embankment at Gopalpur late last night. Two schools including a madrassa were closed down after floodwater entered the villages today. According to the Manikchak block development officer, Mr S Nag, miscreants cut off the embankment around 1 am. “I do not know their interest. The police have been informed about the incident,” the BDO, said. According to the BDO, block officials are engaged in estimating the extent of the damage. Local sources said that a group of people committed the crime hoping to get the repairing job and government relief. Villages like Gopalpur, north and south Hukumattola, Ishwaritola and Balutola have been marooned. The district administration has shifted residents of the low lying areas to higher grounds along with their cattle. The Malda district magistrate, Mr CR Das, and sabhadhipati of Malda Zilla Parishad Mr Goutam Chakraborty, however, claimed that the situation was under control. When contacted, the executive engineer, Malda irrigation division, Mr S Misra, said: “We would not repair the unauthorised embankment. Either the panchayat or some local body had built the dwarf embankment to save a pocket of unprotected areas.” “The old seventh retired embankment, as the second line of defence, is preventing floodwaters from entering other villages in English Bazaar and Manikchak blocks,” the official, added. According to Mr Misra, his department is apprehensive that another newly constructed dwarf embankment at Sakurullahapur or Panchanandapur in the downstream under the Kaliachak II block is also vulnerable. Today, the department recorded the water level in the Ganga at 24.96 metres, just 35 cm below the extreme danger level at Manikchak Ghaat. The yellow signal for the protected areas is on. It is feared that the water level would continue to rise in the next few days because floodwaters from Bihar is flowing downstream.