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Bihar Floods: Nitish Kumar Lashes Out At Reporters, Asks 'What Happened In America'

Is water in some parts of Patna the only problem we have, Kumar asked the media as at least 40 people have lost their lives in the state because of the floods.
 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a file photo.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in a file photo.

Even as reports suggest that at least 40 people have died in the floods in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lashed out at reporters who questioned him over the situation in the state.

Desh ke kitne hisson mein pani aya hai? Duniya ke kitne hisson mein pani aya hai? Sirf Patna ke kuch mohollon mein pani aya hai, sirf wohi hai samasya?... America mein kya hua? (How many parts of the country have seen floods? How many parts of the world has seen floods? Is water in some parts of Patna the only problem we have?... What happened in America),” Kumar said as reporters continued to grill him.

Bihar has been ravaged by floods after torrential rain in the past few days. While the centre has provided two helicopters to Bihar for rescue operations in flood-affected areas, Kumar had earlier said that all measures had been taken to take care of the situation.

The situation has been so dire in Patna, that even deputy chief minister Sushil Modi had to be rescued by the National Disaster Response Force.

The Opposition the state has also lashed out at the JD(U)-BJP government, alleging that the floods were “man made”.

Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil was quoted by PTI as saying, “Due to corruption and lack of supervision, water is now entering the town as the pipeline has not been aligned properly, resulting in the city getting flooded,” he said. At least for the sake of humanity, the state and the central governments should come out and help the people and mitigate their problems arising out of floods.”

Another Congress leader, Anshul Avijit, said that the situation in the Patna was “shameful” and that it could have been avoided if measures had been taken.

PTI quoted him as saying, “This is not nature’s fury but a man-made disaster. This was something waiting to happen. I want to stress upon this point that had the authorities taken proper preventive measures, cleaned up the drainage system, this could have been prevented.”

(With PTI inputs)

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