Over 5 crore people responded to Nitish Kumar's call to form human chain: Bihar govt

A whopping 5 crore people took part in the human chain formed to mark the Nitish Kumar government’s Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission on Sunday, claimed the Bihar government. The aim behind organising it was to spread awareness regarding the importance of environment conservation and eradication of social evils among the masses.

"Today, under 'Jal, Jeevan, Hariyali', (Chief Minister's flagship program) 18,034 km long human chain was formed... Altogether 5,16,71,389 crore people took part in the human chain exceeding the target what we had thought of," said Bihar chief secretary Deepak Kumar.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Sushil Modi along with other ministers gathered at the Gandhi Maidan to participate in the human chain event.The human chain is being formed under the 'Jal, Jeevan, Hariyali' programme, which is a flagship programme launched by Nitish Kumar to fight climate change, among other objectives. The Bihar government had earlier claimed that the human chain on January 19 will be the longest one ever attempted.

In the past, the Bihar government had organised a human chain event in support of the stringent prohibition policy in 2017. In 2018 another human chain was formed to back campaigns against dowry and child marriage.

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Rift in Mahagathbandhan: RJD & Cong MLAs support Nitish Kumar's human chain

With the Bihar Vidhan Sabha Elections merely eight months away, an internal rift within the RJD and Congress in Bihar has come to the fore. Going against their party diktat, three RJD MLAs along with one Congress MLA  supported the human chain organised by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar all across Bihar on January 19 in support of Jal Jeevan Hariyali and Prohibition of alcohol and against child marriage and Dowry.

RJD President Lalu Yadav has termed this initiative as "chal, sheehan, gharial", whereas RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has described it as a "loot yojana" of Nitish Kumar. Three RJD MLAs — Faraz Fatmi, Maheshwar Yadav and Sanjay Prasad — have supported Nitish Kumar's initiative and also took a jibe at Tajwashwi Yadav for opposing it. 

READ: Bihar CM presides over human chain to raise awareness on his govt's efforts; oppn not impressed

READ: Rift in Mahagathbandhan: RJD and Cong MLAs support Nitish Kumar's Human Chain

(With Inputs from ANI)