Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, during his visit to Bihar's flood affected areas.
NEW DELHI – Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, made an aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Bihar accompanied by Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Shri Shivraj Patil, Railway Minster Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, Chemicals and Fertilizers and Steel Minister Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, and Bihar Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar.
PM Dr. Manmohan Singh expressed his deep anguish at the havoc caused by the unprecedented floods and directed that all possible steps be taken to ameliorate the suffering of the people. Terming this a national calamity, Dr. Manmohan Singh announced immediate release of Rs. 1000 crores to the Government of Bihar for rescue and relief.
Dr. Manmohan Singh declared that the Centre would extend all possible assistance to the state government. The Government of India will provide necessary material and technical assistance to the State Government to prevent further deterioration in the embankments and protective structures. A high-level team would be set up to coordinate matters with the Government of Nepal.
In view of the unprecedented scale of relief measures required, and as the relief operations are likely to continue over an extended period, the Central government will procure and supply tarpaulin tents and GI sheets as per the State Government’s request. Special IAF sorties would be arranged for providing packaged drinking water. The Government of India has decided to release 1.25 lakh metric tons of food grains and shall release more as needed. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will together provide 100 additional motorized boats for rescue operations. And high capacity Indian Air Force helicopters will be deployed for evacuation. Teams of doctors and paramedics would be kept on standby.
The Central Government will also provide assistance from the Department of Animal Husbandry for the livestock affected by the floods.
One lakh rupees from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund will be given to the next of kin of all those persons who lost their lives.