Bihar floods: Residents of Patna's Rajendra Nagar cut off with no power, phone connection

After two days of incessant rain, the area is left with neck-deep water

Rescue members evacuate people from a flood-affected neighbourhood in Patna on October 1, 2019.

After two days of incessant rain, Patna’s Rajendra Nagar area is left with neck-deep water. Boats of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been plying from Sunday evening, distributing milk and mineral water bottles and rescuing people.

Since Monday, helicopters have been pressed into service to drop food packets in the area. Residents gathered at the rooftops of their houses and apartments to collect food packets. There is no electricity, phone or Internet connection for the last 64 hours in the area, causing huge inconvenience to residents.

Over a lakh people have been trapped in Rajendra Nagar in apartments and multi-story buildings. No government official, MLA or MP has visited the area yet. People urgently need drinking water, milk, electricity and emergency services.

Residents of the ground floors of buildings have been evacuated and put up at their relatives’ or friends’ houses. “Rajendra Nagar looks like the new Venice ...it is not waterlogged but water-locked...this is the situation in a locality in the heart of the State capital and considered to be a posh area where even Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi lives”, said Rajendra Nagar resident Vijay Vasudatt. Mr. Modi was evacuated by Patna District Magistrate Kumar Ravi.

A man asks for help as he stands in the flood waters at a neighbourhood in Patna on September 30, 2019.

 

Since Sunday night, the rain has stopped and it was a bright sunny morning on Tuesday but there is no one from the government to coordinate relief in the waterlogged areas, though choppers have been doing the rounds in the sky at regular intervals and the NDRF and SDRF boats have been plying with milk and water bottles.

“We are flooded in the State capital for the last three days and the government is doing nothing...this when the government has declared Patna will be a smart city and has signed a memorandum for Metro rail”, mocked another resident Manoj Kumar.

Children, shopkeepers and office-goers are trapped inside their houses. Carcasses of dead animals are seen floating in the water. Residents have been sharing their food and water bottles.

“It’s even worse than a nightmare...haven’t imagined such a pathetic situation would come up in the middle of the State capital, which the government recently announced will be made into a smart city”, Rajendra Nagar resident Jayshree told The Hindu .