Central Team's Visit to Bihar Just a Media Show?
Patna: Aug. 7, 2007
While failing to make any concrete commitment to provide relief to flood victims in Bihar, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, on Tuesday following the customary aerial survey of the flooded areas in the state, directed the Nitish government to further improve state machinery to facilitate better relief operation and ensure relief fund reached the needy in a timely fashion.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who asked for the immediate release of Rs. 3,220 crore economic package for the flood victims was instead assured of dispatch of yet another team of experts from Delhi who would study the extent of loss caused by the flood before a final decision on central relief package was made.
"The Center is willing to provide all required assistance to combat flood epidemic in Bihar but the state government must first take lead in providing relief to the flood victims by bringing improvement in the state machinery and using the available resources judiciously until help arrives from New Delhi," Patil said at a press conference in Patna.
Patil said a central team of experts would soon visit Bihar to evaluate the extent of damages caused by it before a decision on any economic package is taken.
The Home Minister's reluctance to act swiftly to dispatch economic help for flood-affected regions in Bihar has come under severe criticism by the NDA leaders in the state who said the UPA government's approach was nothing but a photo-op opportunity designed to draw maximum political advantage of the misery caused by this year's flood and was devoid of any substance that could offer any hope to the flood victims.
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