Nitish holds high-level meeting on flood, asks for quick assessment of crop loss

The CM said that the agriculture department, disaster management department and the concerned district magistrates should carry out a panchayat-wise assessment, including those farmers who could not do sowing due to early floods, so that assistance could reach all those affected by floods.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday held a high-level meeting to review the situation of flood and drought in the state and directed the officials to provide compensation to the farmers for crop loss after assessment.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar holds review meeting at CM Secretariat in Patna on Wednesday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The CM said that the agriculture department, disaster management department and the concerned district magistrates should carry out a panchayat-wise assessment, including those farmers who could not do sowing due to early floods, so that assistance could reach all those affected by floods. “The assessment should be completed in 3-4 days. After that the ministers in charge of the concerned districts will sit with the DMs to give it final shape,” he added.

He also asked for an assessment of those districts, which have received less rainfall. Though technically none of the Bihar districts has so far been declared drought-hit this year, the impact of flood has been unprecedented, with crops on over five lakh hectares damaged.

The CM also pointed to the extensive damage due to floods, which has affected nearly 70 lakh population spread across 26 districts and asked the water resources department for a comprehensive long-term plan for a permanent solution to the problem, which hits Bihar every year.

Kumar also directed the animal husbandry and fisheries department to do their assessment so that assistance could reach the affected. All the DMs of the flood-affected districts, the ministers and officials of different departments were present at the meeting, which lasted over five hours.

The review meeting was called after the central team’s visit to take stock of the flood situation and damage caused. The team, which came on Monday, returned on Tuesday evening after doing an aerial survey of Darbhanga, Bhagalpur and adjoining areas and holding talks with the government officials.

During the meeting, a PowerPoint presentation was also made to throw light on the situation, relief and rehabilitation measures initiated and how the state had to face flood situation in three phases this year, starting from June 13 itself. The government claimed to have distributed relief worth ₹477.32-crore among 795538 families, while the remaining would receive it by September 25.