In Meeting With PM On Bihar Floods, Nitish Kumar Says 'Send Experts'

New Delhi: Amidst a grim flood situation in Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Modi to discuss long term solutions to prevent annual flooding in the state.

"We have requested the Prime Minister to send a team of experts who can evaluate the utility of the Farakka barrage and suggests ways at silt management," said Mr Kumar after the meeting.

Farakka Barrage is located at the Bengal-Bihar border that's meant to divert Ganga water into Bengal's Hooghly river and help in desolation process. But Kumar argues that over the years, the barrage has not been effective and as a result, the Ganga river in Bihar has seen heavy silt deposit.

This, in turn, has made the river bed shallow and floods have become annual phenomena in Bihar. "I was born on the banks of the river Ganga but I have not seen anything like this before. And unless we manage the silt deposit whether by deepening the river bed or any other means, flooding will happen every year," he said.

Of the 38 districts in the state, nearly 20 districts are flood affected. In the past 3 days, 19 people have died and over 5 lakh people have been displaced.

Nitish Kumar told reporters that the Prime Minister has assured him of sending a team of experts to Bihar to study the ground situation.

In fact, with water levels of Ganga and Sone still flowing above the danger mark, the National Disaster Response Force or NDRF on Monday sent 10 additional teams to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to help the state governments in rescue efforts.

The Bihar chief minister told reporters today that the extent of the damage will be known only after the waters recede.

"There has been massive damage, for example, the banana plantations in Vaishali are all finished. Roads have been washed away and infrastructure badly damaged. We will restore everything and for that we would need funds," he said.

"But the damage assessment in monetary terms can take place only by next week or so. Our priority right now is to rescue and relief."