Brothers Arun and Ashok Sah are desperately waiting for a boat to rescue them from Tikulia village in Madhepura district. But people in some of their neighbouring houses are not very keen. Sah’s neighbours do not want to leave their village even though it is completely marooned, leaving them stranded on the roof for the past 14 days. They fear that their house would be looted by thugs, who are rumoured to be roaming the flooded villages on country-made boats.

Very few such incidents have been reported, but it’s still enough to create a panic among the people who want to desperately cling on to their belongings, even at the cost of risking their lives.

“We have heard about houses being looted after they were abandoned by the owners. As a result, many people here don’t want to leave the village,” Arun Sah told The Indian Express over a mobile phone.

“But my brother and I are on the roof for the past 14 days. We have not eaten for the last two days. Please send a boat for us,” he pleaded.

Arun’s neighbours are well off and are well-stocked with food. But members of the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF), who are carrying out the evacuation exercise, say that there are a number of people who are refusing to leave their home and belongings.

“There are about 40-50 people in Dighi village in Purnea district who have been refusing to come out. Most of these belong to well-to-do families staying in double storey houses, who are not faced with shortage of food,” said a NDRF jawan. He added that at one rescue mission, people in one such house gave him fresh drinking water. Another of his colleague said that he had come across extremely poor people who too were refusing to be evacuated.

... contd.