Contingency plan to tackle heat

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar holding a meeting with senior government officials on the delayed monsoon and consequent drought-like situation prevailing in Bihar on June 22, 2009 in Patna.
Chief Secretary R J M Pillai, Principal Secretary,Disaster Management Department, R K Singh and DevelopmentCommissioner Anup Mukherjee, besides officials from Animal Resources, Minor Irrigation, Water Resources Development and Finance Departments and VC of Rajendra Agricultural University were present in the meeting.

The Chief Minister directed the top state officials to formulate a contingency plan to meet the exigency in the wake of the intense heat wave condition prevailing in the state.
"I have asked the officials to give a final shape to the contingency plan and present the draft on June 24. If necessary, the state cabinet will discuss the issue relatingto allocation of additional funds to tackle the drought problems the following day," Nitish said.

It is learnt that Bihar government has agreed in principle to provide diesel subsidy to farmers for irrigation. The subsidy is likely to be Rs 10 per litre.
Photo: Aftab Alam Siddiqui