Nitish declares Bihar as drought-hit in I-Day speech
August 15, 2010 19:12 IST
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has declared entire Bihar as drought hit after hoisted national flag on Independence day on Sunday.
Eleven days after Nitish Kumar government declared 28 of 38 districts as drought hit, he announced in his speech that remaining 10 districts have been declared as drought hit."Now entire Bihar has been declared drought hit in view of scanty rainfall" Nitish Kumar said.
Nitish Kumar expressed concern that the drought has affected hundreds of thousands of people for a second consecutive year.Last year, 26 districts were declared drought hit due to poor rainfall.
Official sources in the state disaster management department said that state has recorded over 30 percent rainfall deficit that severely affected paddy and maize crops.
Nitish Kumar reiterated that despite drought government will not allowed any one to died of hunger and starvation.
Last week, Nitish Kumar handed over a memorandum to the central government in New Delhi seeking financial help of Rs.5,062 crore to tackle the drought.
He said that he had directed the energy department to provide non-stop power supply to rural areas for at least six hours a day to facilitate irrigation activities and save the dying paddy transplantation.
He admitted that the power-starved state would need a substantial amount of money to procure an additional 350 MW of power for irrigation in drought-hit districts.
M I Khan in Patna
