Marooned children in a makeshift camp of Bihar. (Reuters)

Patna, Aug. 26: Indian technocrats today began talks with Nepal authorities to control the damage caused by two breaches in the eastern Kosi embankment at Kusahi (Nepal) on the ninth day after north Bihar’s sorrow changed its course and inundated hundreds of settlements in Bihar and Nepal.

Sources at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu told The Telegraph that Indian technicians and Sunsari district (Nepal) officials were talking about the “emergency measures” to plug the breach at Inaruwa town in Nepal on the Indo-Nepalese border.

“The Nepalese defence minister, Ram Bahadur Thapa, and the state’s physical planning and works minister, Vijay Gachhedar, have landed at Sunsari to inspect the breaches,” said an embassy official.

Though Bihar’s officials hope that the talks would yield measures to control the damage, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar appears to feel that it is “impossible to check the forward surge” of the mighty river on the Bihar side in the near future.

He appealed to the flood-hit people of Madhepura, Supaul and Saharsa to abandon their homes and settle down in relief camps set up by the government at safe places.

Today, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave an assurance to send bigger Indian Air Force helicopters with relief supplies for the state’s marooned people, while railway minister Lalu Prasad asked Singh to transfer the relief operation task to the Indian Army from the Nitish Kumar government.

“I have requested the Prime Minister to seek army aid, as the government has failed to look after its people,” said Lalu Prasad, who met Singh at his New Delhi residence. The railway minister also accused the Nitish Kumar government of being “unable to tackle the situation”.

He alleged that the government failed to repair the Kosi embankment despite warnings from experts. The minister also handed over a memorandum to Singh stating that despite suggestions by a committee, the JD(U) government failed to get embankments repaired before the monsoon.

According to a rough official estimate, the flood toll has risen to 42 and has trapped nearly 12 lakh people in Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, Araria, Katihar and Purnea in Bihar.

Four helicopters and 200 country boats are working overtime to ferry the men and material to “safe destinations”. Train services have been completely disrupted in Madhepura and Araria.

NH0-106 and 107 connecting India and Nepal have been completely separated.

The Bihar State Electricity Board has snapped supply in Supaul, Saharsa and Madehepura to avoid the possibility of short circuit.

Given the grim situation, the chief minister today cancelled health secretary Dipak Kumar’s pre-scheduled visit to Norway and asked him to concentrate on relief work in bordering districts comprising Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Araria, Purnea and Katihar.

Though the flood has affected 14 districts of north Bihar and all major rivers in the northern part of the state, the situation in the Kosi catchment areas has turned beyond control.

“It’s becoming more difficult to plug breaches along embankment with the torrential rains still beating down. The breach has spread acthree kilometers. And it is an ominous situation with the meteorological office predicting rains in the coming weeks too", said a Bihar government water resources department engineer.