Nitish Kumar chairs another high-level meeting on Patna water-logging

On Thursday, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials and elected representatives. The meeting was also attended by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. During the meeting, long contemplations were held on the recent heavy and destructive waterlogging in Patna caused by heavy rainfall. Apart from Member of Parliament Ravi Shankar Prasad, Pataliputra MP Ram Kripal Yadav, Member of Rajya Sabha RK Sinha and the mayor of Patna City Sita Sahu also participated in the meeting.

Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, state cabinet members including Patna Sahib MLA Nand Kishore Yadav (road construction department minister) also participated in the meeting. The MLAs and MLCs representing Patna and senior officials led by Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar were also present during the meeting.

According to the sources, Nitish Kumar took the MLAs 'valuable suggestions' and also instructed the concerned officials to conduct a meeting with the elected representatives, so that all inputs can be taken into consideration to devise a short term and a long term plan to deal with waterlogging issues in the city.

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The Bihar CM also asked for the water to be flushed out of areas that are still waterlogged. Nitish Kumar also informed the MLAs and MLCs that a decision on setting up a committee was underway. Once in action, the committee would work on fixing the accountability of the waterlogging that caused huge loss of property and a spurt in vector-borne diseases. He also informed about the concerned committees have been asked to come out with proposals for preventing the recurrence of similar problems in the future. 

Bihar floods

The State authorities and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had evacuated over 10,000 citizens from the flood-affected areas in Patna. According to reports, 19 NDRF teams were sent out for evacuation. Out of the 19 teams, five NDRF teams were sent to Patna's flood-affected areas. 

READ | Citizens equally responsible for waterlogging: Bihar govt to Patna HC

Dengue threat in Bihar

Post the floods in the state, 900 people have been tested positive for dengue, including 640 cases in Patna. The Bihar government on October 3, began the fogging process in the waterlogged areas to prevent the risk of vector-borne diseases in the flood-affected regions. While speaking to a news agency, Sanjay Kumar, the Principal Secretary of Health in the state informed that twenty-four teams are spraying Temefos in Patna to kill mosquitoes.

READ | Bihar Floods: Government initiates fogging in flood-affected areas

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(With PTI inputs)