Nitish meets PM, seeks aid to tackle Bihar drought

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought immediate financial assistance of over Rs 5,000 crore from the Centre to tackle the drought situation in his state, where 28 districts have been declared as famine-hit.

After the meeting, Kumar told reporters that the prime minister assured him that a central team will visit the state to assess the situation.

"Bihar is facing severe drought-like situation and due to scanty rain, we had to declare 28 out of 38 districts as drought affected. The remaining ten districts have also been kept under watch. If there is no rain during August, we will have to declare these districts also as drought affected," Kumar said.

The Bihar chief minister said that immediate financial assistance from the Centre is required to meet the situation in his state as "we have negative balance in the state calamity relief fund".

The state government will need more funds to tackle the situation but that will be discussed with the Centre in the second stage, he said "Right from 2007, we have been suffering from natural calamities. In 2007, 22 districts were badly hit by floods, affecting 25 million people. In 2008, we had to face the Kosi tragedy. Thereafter in 2009, 26 out of 38 districts were hit by drought."

"This year, the intensity (of drought) is much more than last year," he said. Hoping that the Centre will provide financial assistance to Bihar, Kumar said the state government is tackling the situation with the resources available with it.

"But the Centre should also fulfill its responsibility," he said.