With Bihar reeling under continuous rain with gusty wind for the last 24-hours following the Phailin cyclone, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday held a marathon meeting with top Government officials and appealed to the people of the State to have patience at the time of natural disaster-like situation. Bihar may witness heavy rainfall with stormy winds in the next 36-48 hours, officials said.
“It’s a natural disaster like situation and people should have patience at this time of crisis. The cyclonic effect is now shifting towards north Bihar and then will gradually move to Nepal,” said Nitish Kumar after two-hour long meeting. He also apprehended that with heavy rainfall in Nepal’s catchment areas, the water level in rivers originating from there would rise, which may cause flood in some areas of Bihar.
“I’ve asked the District Magistrates and other machinery of the districts to be on alert with a monitoring cell at the headquarters to keep a close watch on the developments taking place there,” said the Bihar Chief Minister. He has also involved the Superintendents of Police of the districts into the mechanism to meet any untoward disaster management. “The whole system should be involved at this difficult time,” he said.
The Bihar Chief Minister interacted with all the District Magistrates and SPs through video-conferencing and instructed them to be on high alert during next 48-hours.
“During this time electricity supply may be disrupted for some time on precautionary measures. The concerned departments of the Government are constantly monitoring the situation so people should have patience at this time,” he appealed to the people.Earlier, State Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Sinha too had meeting with all the department secretaries and discussed the effect of Phailin in the State.
Bihar is witnessing continuous rainfall from the last 24-hours after the cyclone hit the coastal areas of Odisha on Saturday night. The continuous rainfall with gusty wind has thrown life out of gear, though no report of any major casualty has so far come out from anywhere in the State. At some places trees and electric poles have been uprooted and electric supply in some locality of the State capital was disrupted even for 10-hours causing great inconvenience to the people.
The Bihar Government, earlier, had cancelled leaves of top district and State officials, including doctors to meet any untoward situation when Phailin would enter into the State.
Meanwhile, the State Met Department has forecasted heavy downpour in the State over the next 48 hours. “The concerned departments have been asked to take all precautionary measures to deal with any flood-like situation on the basis of the met department warning,” said Vipin Kumar Rai, officer on Special Duty in Disaster Management Department.
He also further said that two teams of NDRF have been deployed in Supaul and adjoining districts to meet any emergency measures. “The heavy rainfall may cause flood in Kosi and Gandak rivers. So, we’re prepared for that,” he said.
“In addition, one team of State Disaster Response Force each has been put in place at Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Jehanabad and Patna districts, while a reserve SDRF team will remain stationed in the State capital,” said the official.
Meanwhile, all political and social activities in the State have come to a standstill for the last 24-hours. People remained inside doors in fear of continuous rain and gusty wind blowing outside.
“The festive mood of Dussehra has been completely spoiled this time with this Phailin cyclone,” rued many in the State capital, “but nothing could be done against nature”, they added quickly.
e.o.m.