Bihar floods leave 25 dead, 1.25 lakh rescued so far by disaster relief agencies, Nitish Kumar tells state Assembly

Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday declared in the state Assembly that 25 people lost their lives so far in the floods triggered by heavy downpour in the state. A total of 1.25 lakh people have been rescued so far in the state, he said. [caption id=“attachment_4251881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Reuters[/caption] “We have instructed to expedite the relief and rescue operation in the flood-affected areas across the state. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) troops have rescued around 1, 25,000 people from the flood-affected regions till now,” Nitish Kumar said while delivering a speech in state Assembly. “Around 12 districts have been affected due to floods in the state. The rescue forces have been instructed to provide every possible aid to the flood-affected people. Till now, 199 relief camps have been opened across the state and over 1 lakh people are residing in the camps,” he added. He further said that clean drinking water and food items are being supplied in the flood-affected areas through community kitchens. Basic medication like ORS pouches, halogen tablets, etc. is made available in several districts. “Government will provide funds to the families of those who lost their lives during floods, we will begin the fund revolving process across the districts from 19 July,” Kumar added. The flood situation remains grim in several states across the country, more than a hundred NDRF teams have been deployed in various flood-affected areas of the country including Bihar and Assam. In addition, 24X7 NDRF control room in Delhi is closely monitoring the situation to coordinate with various agencies for further deployment, an official statement said on Monday. In Bihar, 19 NDRF teams have been deployed in Araria, Bettiah, Darbhanga, Didarganj, Gopalganj, Katihar, Madhubani, Motihari, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Supaul to tackle flood-like situation developed in low-lying areas due to heavy rainfall. The chief minister had surveyed the flood-hit areas in his state on Sunday and Monday.