K. Balchand

Nowhere to go: A goods train halting at a station in flooded North Bihar on Wednesday. The station, where many people have taken refuge, is completely cut off from the rest of the State.

PATNA: With flood waters swamping more areas in Bihar, the race is to prevent the breach in the Kosi embankment from widening further. The State government is hoping to complete the task in the next couple of days with the cooperation of Nepal, but the weatherman sounded pessimistic fearing more rainfall in the catchment areas in the coming days.

Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi August 28, 2008, 0:18 IST

Bihar seeks Rs 1,000 crore and 100,000 tonnes of foodgrain immediately.

Work to fill the nearly two-and-a-half kilometre breach in the Kosi barrage embankment has begun with the help of initial supplies from the Farrakka barrage. The breach has caused the worst flood in Bihar in recent history.

The caretaker government yesterday asked for urgently undertaking the long-neglected Eastern Bypass-cum-Flood Control Embankment construction project to protect the eastern part of the city from floods.

A high-level inter-ministerial meeting, presided over by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, gave the directive as the government considered a package programme for solving waterlogging problem and ensuring civic amenities.

Vinod Thomas

In the past, policymakers thought that safeguarding the environment was a drag on growth.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) of the Delhi government has given its nod to seven projects worth Rs 347 crores. The approved projects include four of the PWD department and one each to power, land and building and Irrigation and flood control departments.