Lalu accuses Bihar CM of behaving like 'Nero'

New Delhi, July 31 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today lambasted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for undertaking a foreign trip at a time when the state was reeling under devastating floods, saying the ''CM is behaving like King Nero whlie his 'Rome' is burning.'' Expressing concern over the ''alarming stuation'' in the state in the wake of widespread destruction caused by the floods, Mr Prasad said it was amazing that the Bihar government had not even approached the Centre's Disaster Management Group for funds to effectively fight the natural calamity.

Mr Kumar is at present in Mauritius, heading a high-level delegation to the Indian Ocean country scouting investment for his poverty-stricken state.

Mr Prasad, who will undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas in Bihar tomorrow, said several districts of the state, including Sitamarhi, Darbhanga and Madhubani, had been battered by the worst floods, resulting in a huge loss of lives and properties.

''The Indian Government's Disaster Management Group provides not only financial help but also aircraft, foodstuff and medicines in times of a natural calamity, but the Bihar government has not even bothered to make a representation to it,'' Mr Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of a railway event.

In times of need, he said, army troops are also pressed into service for providing rescue and rehabilitation measures. ''But the fact is that the state government has not made any formal request to the Centre so far to provide air support, army troops, financial aid and foodgrain.'' In addition, the state government would have made a request to the Centre to send a central team to assess the stuation in the state, he said, adding that it smacked of ''total indifference'' on the part of the Nitish government.

''I have been informed that the railway infrasatructure in the state has also been extensively damaged. I will undertake an aerial survey of the state tomorrow to assess the situation,'' he said.

UNI