Inundation situation improves in East & West Midnapore

Kolkata: The situation in East and West Midnapore, which were heavily inundated due to incessant rainfall, has started improving with the water receding in most of the affected places.

It was only at Patashpur in East Midnapore where the situation had worsened with damage caused to a small stretch of embankment in the wee hours on Friday. However, the situation was brought under control by evening with engineers from the state Irrigation and Waterways department plunging into action to repair the damaged portion of the embankment.

The water has started receding from the villages surrounding Keleghai Kapaleshwari, Baghai Chandia, New and Old Kansai. Citing an example, a senior officer of the state government, said: "There were around 47 camps at Keshpur on Thursday. It dropped to 17 on Friday when people started returning to their houses."

Around five lakh people were affected due to heavy inundation at different parts of both the districts with heavy gush of water from Jharkhand to low-lying Bengal.

State Irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra, who had been supervising the restoration work in the affected areas since Wednesday, visited Keshpur and Daspur on Friday and took stock of the present situation.

"Water started receding and the situation is improving. But our cause of concern is the high tide on Monday and Tuesday. We are taking all necessary preparations to avoid any further loss," Mahapatra added.

Patashpur Bazar and its adjacent area went under water with the damage in the embankment. The condition was found quite similar at Naipur Bazar as well. People were evacuated to safe places from these areas where taking a boat ride is the only mode of communication left to reach the village houses half of which went under water.

Major thoroughfares in East Midnapore, including Egra-Bajkul Road and Noipur-Sabang Road, went under water restricting movement of vehicles on the same.