Chouhan tours flood-hit Bihar as Tejashwi accuses Centre of neglect

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan visited flood-affected areas of Vaishali district on Wednesday during his day-long tour of the state to review relief and rescue operations in areas hit by the deluge, officials said.

Accompanied by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, the Union agriculture minister inspected the flood-affected Terasia and Saraipur villages in Vaishali district by boat and tractor. Officials said he will also assess crop damage and meet local farmers to hear their concerns.

According to a statement by the Disaster Management Department on Wednesday, around 49.74 lakh people in 15 districts of Bihar have been affected by floods as heavy rainfall in Nepal and in the state swelled the rivers already flowing above their danger marks.

The affected districts are Patna, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Buxar, Samastipur, Munger, Katihar, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Purnea, Madhepura and Araria.

Officials said, "Chouhan will visit affected areas to interact with farmers and the public, and chair a high-level meeting with senior officials in the presence of CM Choudhary to review relief and rescue efforts."

Later in the day, Chouhan will chair a review meeting with the Bihar chief minister and senior officials to assess flood relief operations and assistance for affected farmers.

After that, the Union minister will visit the flood relief camp at Nawabgarhi in Munger and interact with people sheltered there. Later, he will visit Bhagalpur to inspect the Kojikaraiya embankment and then visit the relief camp set up at Bhagalpur Polytechnic College.

Reacting to Chouhan's visit, RJD MP Manoj Jha criticised the Centre's delayed response to the flood.

"You took far too long to show up. Bihar's plight is not on their minds. Now they are arriving today. I hear they are coming by a chartered plane. It would have been far better had the money been spent for flood victims," he said.

A couple of days ago, Bihar's Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav accused the Centre of adopting a "stepmotherly" attitude towards the state in providing flood relief as he slammed Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Union ministers for “failing” to secure aid for people hit by the deluge.

"The engines of the ‘double-engine’ government in Bihar have failed. I am not aware of how often the chief minister talks to PM Modi, and wonder why he has not been able to secure central assistance. There are many Union ministers from Bihar, but none has the influence to bring central help to the state," he had said.