Declaration of drought in Bihar soon

With the spectre of drought looming large over several districts in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the entire state would be declared drought-hit soon. ''Yes, floods have hit a small part of Bihar but we are more worried about the drought-like situation gripping the state,'' he told reporters on the sidelines of his 'Janata Darbar' held after a gap of seven months.

Kumar said he had assigned the task of assessing the situation to the concerned authorities at the district level who would be holding all-party meetings after discussing with the officials of the respective districts. The state agriculture department, water resources department, public health and engineering department, disaster management and other related departments would make an on-the-spot study of the situation across the state and submit the report within a week.

A high-level meeting would be convened at the state secretariat after the reports were received and after assessing the magnitude of the drought, the state government would make the declaration, he informed and said it would be either before or after August 15. Kumar said as a measure to provide relief to farmers, the state government was giving diesel subsidy of Rs 450 per acre, besides arranging alternative seeds on which subsidy was also granted.

He urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to send a high-level team to -make on-the-spot assessment of the situation for releasing grants worth around Rs 1,000 crore which would be required to tackle the drought situation. The state government had also approached the central power ministry seeking an additional allocation of 300 mw for the purpose of ensuring uninterrupted power supply in the rural areas affected by drought. Special measures were also being taken to ensure drinking water in the rural areas, he added.