CM Holds High-level Meeting on Flood Control
Patna: May 17, 2008
 Anticipating yet another excruciating flood in Bihar that continues to take its toll year after year in terms of lives and agricultural devastation, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday held a meeting with the State Flood Control Council to prepare for the impending Monsoon season to minimize its effects in the northern parts of the state.
Directing the officials to finish all flood-related projects in the state, the Chief Minister asked them to start preparing a comprehensive plan to combat flood in districts like Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur and put relief measures before the Monsoon outbreak later next month.
"Lessons have been learnt from the last year's flood and we cannot wait for the Monsoon to arrive to start the relief work. We should be completely prepared for the inevitable and ensure lives or cattle are not lost and the damage is kept to the minimum.
Right from keeping expert divers on high alert in flood areas to strategic placement of emergency services and close vigil on all embankments, Kumar said there would not be any shortage of relief material or irregularity in relief distribution this year thanks to the lessons learnt from the last year's flood.
Chief Engineer of the Water Resources Department Devi Rajak said works on 102 plans to minimize the flood impact in Bihar were nearing completion while works on other 123 projects were still in their initial stages.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Water Resources Minister Vijendra Prasad Yadav, Road Construction Minister Prem Kumar, Chief Secretary R. J. M. Pillai, Development Commissioner S. Raghawan, Finance Secretary Naveen Kumar, Chief Minister's Secretary Chanchal Kumar, and a number of Flood Control and Railway officials.
Yadav also suggested the railway officials to raise the height of the railway bridges in north Bihar to prevent them from swaying away in flood water and thus disrupting railway traffic in flood-affected areas.
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