India, Nepal floods kill dozens- Hundreds of thousands see homes washed away in eastern India

Floods caused by incessant rains in India over the past week have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the east and northeast, destroyed crops and damaged bridges, officials said on Friday.

In the eastern state of Bihar, 21 people have died while hundreds of thousands of villagers have seen their houses washed away while road and rail networks have been disrupted by heavy monsoon rains over the past three days.

"The floods have damaged 1,776 houses in 269 villages across the north of Bihar and we are sending relief to the marooned villagers," said Manoj Kumar Srivastava, a Bihar disaster management official.

Parts of Bihar's capital, Patna, are also waterlogged, resulting in many people remaining at home and some private schools being shut.

In the northeast, rivers — including the mighty Brahmaputra — have burst their banks and floodwaters have submerged 25,000 acres of rice fields and destroyed hundreds of houses.

"The situation is grim," said Bharat Chandra Narah, flood control minister for Assam state.

In the mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh, roads were blocked by landslides, while fast-flowing rivers eroded river banks and damaged bridges.

Weather officials predicted more rains in the next 48 hours across Bihar and the northeastern states.

In Nepal, floods triggered left thousands of people homeless, destroyed crops and disrupted transport and electricity supplies across the country, officials and media reports said on Friday.

Around 2,500 houses have been washed away in the Himalayan nation's southern plains, forcing residents to flee to higher grounds after week-long heavy rains, local media said.

Officials said floods and landslides have killed about 40 people in Nepal since June when the annual monsoon rains began.

"The seasonal monsoon trough lies almost parallel to the foot of the Himalayas causing more than normal rainfall in Nepal," said Shiva Nepal, an official at the weather forecasting office.

He said rain would continue for another two to three days.

In the western district of Sallyan, heavy rains caused a landslide, which swept away a home killing five members of a family while they were asleep on Thursday, Kantipur television reported.

कांग्रेस, माओवादी विद्यार्थीबीचको विवाद बढ्दो

सत्ताधारी नेपाली कांग्रेस र नेकपा माओवादी निकट विद्यार्थी संगठनहरुबीचको विवाद सुल्झिनुको साटो झन् बल्झिदै गएको छ।

विवाद बढ्दै जाँदा उनीहरूले एकअर्का माथि आक्रमण र प्रत्याक्रमण गर्न थालेका छन्।

माओवादी समर्थित अनेरास्ववियु क्रान्तिकारीले आफ्नो केन्द्रिय कार्यालयमा नेपाली कांग्रेस निकट नेविसंघले मंगलवार आक्रमण गरेको भन्दै बुधवार काठमाडौ उपत्यकामा तीन घण्टे चक्काजामको आयोजना गरेको थियो।

त्यसक्रममा प्रहरी र प्रदर्शनकारीवीच ठाउँ, ठाउँमा झडप भएका थिए।

अखिल क्रान्तिकारीका अनुसार उसका ९५ कार्यकर्ता गिरफ्तार भएका छन् र ३८ जना घाइते भएका छन्।

नेकपा एमालेले आफ्ना सांसद सोमप्रसाद पाण्डे र उनको गाड‌ीमाथि प्रदर्शनकारीले आक्रमण गर्नुका साथै आगो लगाउने प्रयास गरेको भन्दै त्यसको विरोध गरेको छ।

काठमाण्डू थापाथलीस्थित इन्जिनियरिङ क्याम्पसमा आफ्ना कार्यकर्तामाथि माओवादी समर्थित क्रान्तिकारीका कार्यकर्ताले सोमवार सांघातिक हमला गरेको भन्दै नेविसंघले मंगलवार देशव्यापी शैक्षिक संस्था बन्द गरेको थियो।

वार्ताका सर्त

अन्य विद्यार्थी संगठनहरुद्वारा दुवै पक्षलाई वार्ताद्वारा सहमति कायम गर्न दबाब परिरहे पनि त्यस्तो वातावरण बनेको छैन।

नेविसंघका अध्यक्ष प्रदीप पौडेलले आफुहरु विरुद्ध माओवादी युवा संगठन, योंग कम्युनिष्ट लिगका कार्यकर्ताको प्रयोग गरिएकाले यो विषय माओवादी नेतृत्वसँग गाँसिएको बताउँदै भने, "हामीले धेरै सह्यौ। अब भने सुध्रिन्छौ/गर्दैनौ भनेर हुँदैन्। व्यवहारमा देखिनुपर्छ।"

अखिल क्रान्तिकारीका महासचिव हिमाल शर्माले चाहीं नेविसंघले माफी नमागेसम्म र गिरफ्तार कार्यकर्ता विना सर्त रिहा नहुँदासम्म सम्वादको थालनी हुन नसक्ने बताए।

अन्यथा भदौ १ गतेदेखि देशव्यापी रुपमा अनिश्चितकालीन शैक्षिक हडताल गर्ने उनले जनाए।

नेविसंघले भने बिहीवार विरोधसभा गरि आन्दोलनका कार्यक्रम सार्वजनिक गर्ने बताएको छ।

त्यसो त बिद्यार्थी संगठनहरुबीच यस अघि पनि झडप, आक्रमण-प्रत्याक्रमण वा हमला नभएका होइनन्।

तिनलाई सामान्य घटनाका रुपमा लिइन्थ्यो।

बीबीसीका काठमाण्डू सम्वाददाता भन्छन्, तर संक्रमणकालीन राजनीतिक स्थिति र देश राजनीतिक ध्रुविकरणको डिलमा उभिएकाले पनि सत्ताधारी वामपन्थी र गैरवामपन्थी दुई दल समर्थित विद्यार्थी संगठनबीच बढ्दो शत्रुतालाई धेरैले चासोका साथ हेरिरहेका छन्।

 

From: bbcnepali.com

Work stops at Dabur’s Nepal factory

Work stopped at the Dabur Nepal's factory in southern Nepal on Friday after the Maoist union started negotiating with the management over their six-point demands, which include a pay hike.

The factory of Dabur Nepal, Dabur India's wholly-owned subsidiary and Nepal's biggest exporter, located in Birgunj town in southern Nepal, stopped production from the morning after the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary), the powerful trade union of the Maoists, gave a six-point demand to the management.

The demands include giving permanent jobs to seasonal workers and raising pay and perks.

The demands have been made mainly on behalf of the loaders, who are hired when the need arises.

Dabur Nepal officials said they expected the negotiations to be concluded and the factory to resume production soon.

Last month, loaders working for another Indian joint venture, Nepal Lever, had prevented work at its factory for two days with similar demands though they were not direct employees of the multinational but came through a contractor.

With the Maoists joining the government this year, labour trouble has increased as the trade unions associated with different parties have begun a fierce race for control of the working class.

Meanwhile, as national and international support to help the flood victims of the country continues to pour in following an urgent appeal made by the government, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has also appealed "for $1.7 million to help more than 20,000 families affected by torrential monsoon rains, landslides and extensive flooding in the south of Nepal."

The Nepal Red Cross Society has estimated that more than 330,000 people have been affected due to floods.

"The hardest hit communities need to receive food, clean water, and access to sanitation facilities," said the secretary general of the Nepal Red Cross, Dev Ratna Dhakhwa. "But we also need to look beyond this emergency phase, towards helping people return to a normal way of life and enable vulnerable communities to be prepared for future disasters such as this," he adds.

The Nepal Red Cross has been leading the distribution of relief in the country and is working closely with the government, United Nations agencies and other aid organisations. Volunteers in each of the 33 affected districts have so far distributed rice, noodles, salt and sugar to around 30,000 families.