Rautahat, December 28

Armed Police Force Border Security Force Office, Rautahat, distributed relief materials keeping in view the increasing cold in the Tarai.

Relief materials were distributed to around 200 people from Dalit settlements in Gaur and Rajdevi municipalities today. The relief materials include warm clothes, buckets, plates and food items, among other materials. APF SP Prem Raj Pokhrel distributed the materials to 85 families of Paswan settlement in Gaur Municipality in the presence of local social workers.

SP Pokhrel said that they distributed warm clothes and other materials to protect the needy and poor people from cold. He added that they had taken the initiatives to distribute the materials as the poor and needy people of Paswan settlement were suffering for the want of warm clothes.

Similarly, the relief materials were also distributed among 115 Dalit families of Rajdevi Municipality. SP Pokhrel

said firewood along with relief materials were distributed to the locals in Gaur, Rajdevi, Rajpur and Bholohiya, among other places.

Normal life has badly been affected by the bone biting cold for last three days in Rautahat. People have been staying indoors especially in the morning due to the cold wave and thick fog. Bus Entrepreneurs Association Secretary Anil Thapa said less number of vehicles plied on the highways and other road sections.

Elderly citizens and children have been hit the most due to the cold wave. The number of patients suffering from cold-related diseases has also gone up in Gaur.

Dr Rabindra Jha at emergency ward of Rautahat District Hospital said around 50 patients suffering from pneumonia, asthma, fever reached the hospital for treatment daily.