| | The overflowing Kosi had, as of
end-August, wreaked destruction
on more than three million people
living in north and east Bihar. A
field visit reports on the misery of
the affected, haphazard rescue
efforts and criminal exploitation
of the uprooted. The immediate
task is to improve relief
operations and then provide
support to the displaced who
will not be able to find work until
the 2009 kharif season.
A blame game is now in
operation, but since the early
1960s whichever the party in
power, the people of Bihar have
been affected by official apathy
towards the embankments on the
Kosi. This time it is a clear case of
dereliction of duty by the state
government in repairing
upstream barrages before the
monsoon of 2008 that has
resulted in devastation.
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