Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar conducts aerial survey of flood-affected areas of the state.
Credit: PTI Photo
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday conducted an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of the state where large swathes of land have been inundated following the release of water from a barrage along the border with Nepal.
Kumar, who was accompanied by Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Additional Chief Secretary, Disaster Management, Pratyay Amrit, took stock of the relief and rehabilitation work in over a dozen districts situated along Gandak and Kosi rivers which have been in spate for the past few days.
The chief minister instructed officials concerned to accord top priority to providing affected people with relief items such as food packets, medicines and polythene sheets.
He said in areas which have become inaccessible through boats, arrangements should be made to air-drop these items with help from Indian Air Force.
He also called for maintaining hygiene and proper lighting arrangements at relief camps and making shift toilets and community kitchens which have been set up in view of the calamity.
About 10 lakh people across 16 districts of the state have been affected by the flash floods caused by the release of millions of cusecs of water, over the past few days, by Nepal which has received unprecedented rainfall.
Although no fatalities have been reported so far from the flood-hit regions, breaches in embankments at several places have been a cause for alarm.