Indian flood victims ransack govt offices

The district administrator's office in Madhubani town, Bihar state, bore the brunt of public anger, while there was also looting and violence in the flood-hit districts of Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Kishanganj and Purnia.

"We're trapped in our college hostel and are falling ill due to the filthy conditions. Even snakes and scorpions have been pushed into rooms by the floods," said B. Mishra, a student at a medical college in Bihar's worst-hit Darbhanga district.

The floods have killed at least 237 people nationwide since the rains began in mid-June and affected 11 million Indians, officials say.

Mishra's misery was echoed by the state's impoverished farmers.

"I've no drinking water to give my children. My cattle have died, I've lost all my crops. What will happen to my family if the government doesn't help us?" said Muzaffarpur farmer Buddhu Mahto.

The Hindi language Dainik Jagran newspaper reported yesterday that destitute villagers in the Darbhanga district were scavenging for scraps of food and were living off snails.

It said helicopters had been unable to airdrop relief aid or food packets to some of Bihar's worst-hit areas because of difficult weather conditions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pledged to set up a panel for a lasting solution to floods, which every year ravage the nation's east and northeast.