Flood-hit Indians critical of slow relief effort

Flood-hit Indians critical of slow relief effort
04 Jul 2007 08:04:25 GMT
Source: Reuters
Article source: AlertnetBy Bappa Majumdar

KOLKATA, India, July 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people berated officials after monsoon rains in India's eastern city of Kolkata left them without food and water on Wednesday, while operations of IT firms were hit as workers failed to reach their offices.

Close to 700 people have died in South Asia due to storms and heavy rains over the past 12 days. While the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan has improved, rains caused havoc in Kolkata, one of India's biggest cities.

Water flooded many hospitals in the city of 8 million people. Hundreds of people used life boats to move out of low-lying areas as the weather department warned of more rains.

"We've been starving since last night and with water taps submerged there is not a drop of water to drink as well," said Chitra Bhowmik, a city resident.

Hundreds of people shouted angry slogans in many parts of the city, blaming officials in the communist-ruled state for the slow pace of relief, witnesses said.

"Get out or we will drown you in this water," they said, chasing away civic workers in south Kolkata.

Train services were disrupted, most universities postponed examinations and many office-workers took the day off. Schools and colleges remained closed.

The city's information technology hub in the Salt Lake area, which has offices of many multinational companies, also suffered.

"With the streets flooded, reaching the office is impossible," Subir Chatterjee, a software engineer, said.

In the western state Gujarat, floodwaters inundated villages and farm lands.

"Water gushes from the highways into our villages ... the fertile soil is being swept away," a resident of Palanpur, a small town in north Gujarat, said.

Roadside kiosks and temples were also inundated and water lapped at the walls of schools and houses in low-lying areas of the state. Hundreds of factories remained closed.

Government officials said the army has deployed boats to help hundreds of thousands of marooned people. (Additional reporting by Rupam Jain Nair in Ahmedabad)