Bihar minister takes boat to visit flood-hit areas

Sanjay Kumar Jha assured people that ridding the area of the scourge of flood was the top priority of the chief minister and the Bagmati flood management scheme, set to be completed by September 2022, will bring relief to the people

Bihar’s water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha on Tuesday took a boat ride to reach out to people in the flood-affected Kusheahwarsthan and adjoining areas of Darbhanga district.

A village submerged in flood water following heavy rainfall in Champaran, Bihar. (File photo)

Jha assured people that ridding the area of the scourge of flood was the top priority of the chief minister and the Bagmati flood management scheme, set to be completed by September 2022, will bring relief to the people. He said chief minister Nitish Kumar was monitoring the flood situation. Relief and rehabilitation work was being carried out on a war-footing.

Jha, whose boat ride went on for over three hours, interacted with the masses in the villages to know their problems. He also inspected the anti-erosion work on the Kamla Balan river’s embankment in villages of Fuhiya, Kathorgram and Punach. “This area remains inundated for up to six months as it is the confluence of three rivers -- Kamla, Kareh and Kosi. The work on Bagmati flood management scheme (Phase 3B) has started; 52% work has been completed and Phase -5A will commence after that. Phase -5A and Phase -3B will cover areas of Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Samastipur in two phases,” he added.

He also took stock of the community kitchen being run for the affected people and relief work being carried out. “Flood is an annual scourge in Bihar even if it does not rain much here. This year, there has been heavy rainfall quite early, but the government is ready to live up to people’s expectations in this hour of need. The CM has said that there will be no dearth of resources for relief and rehabilitation work,” he added.