Bihar floods cost 39 more lives

PATNA/KOLKATA/GUWAHATI/LUCKNOW: Bihar’s flood woes continued with 39 more deaths reported today even as authorities in delugeravaged Uttar Pradesh grappled to bring the situation under control.

However, the condition in Assam and West Bengal improved, with water receding from most of the affected areas.

The devastating floods that have swept across large swathes of human habitation have claimed 90 lives in West Bengal, 156 in Assam and 72 in Uttar Pradesh so far.

The toll mounted to 418 Bihar. A staggering 1.67 crore people in 19 districts in the state are bearing the brunt of the flooding.

However, the flood waters have receded at some places, prompting people to return home. The number of relief camps dropped to 368 from 624.

The situation in Uttar Pradesh remained grim. More than 24 lakhs people in over 3,000 villages are affected in 25 districts. More than 57,000 have taken shelter in relief camps.

Several rivers are flowing at the danger mark in the eastern and Tarai regions.

In north Bengal, the situation in the affected districts -- Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda -- inched closer to normal.

“The situation is getting better each day. There has been no major rain,” a senior officer of the state disaster management department said.

He, however, said Malda district was finding it hard to get rid of stagnant floodwater. SRINAGAR: Kashmiri separatists withdrew its five-day protest programme against a move to get Article 35A of the Constitution repealed, after the Supreme Court on Friday deferred hearing on a petition challenging the validity of the provision.

“The protest programme, including the proposed strike on August 29, is postponed for the time being as the hearing,” separatist leaders, including chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF chief Yasin Malik said in a statement here.

A new protest schedule would be issued whenever needed, they added.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear after Diwali pleas challenging Article 35 A, relating to special rights and privileges of permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench headed by Justice J S Khehar accepted the plea of the Jammu and Kashmir government that the pleas challenging Article 35A be heard after Diwali.

The case was listed for hearing on August 29 and the separatists had given a strike call for across the state that day.

The separatists had earlier issued a protest schedule against the legal challenge to the provision.