Bihar: Govt transfers two District Magistrates

Patna, Aug 25: The Bihar government on Monday, Aug 25 transferred the District Magistrates of Supoul and Saharsa for their failure to ensure proper and timely distribution of relief material among the flood victims. Official sources said the decision to remove the two DMs was taken after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited both the districts and heard numerous complaints about 'improper, inadequate and timely' distribution of relief material to the flood victims.

The Chief Minister, who visited a number of relief camps in the two worst-affected districts in North Bihar, found that despite the steady supply of relief material, it was not being distributed on time among the victims, causing resentment among the affected people.

Acccordingly, on his return, the Chief Minister issued the transfer order of Supoul DM Sharif Alam and his counterpart in Saharsa Shyam Kumar and replaced them with Mr Shravan Kumar and Mr R Laxamanan respectively.

Mr S Majhi took over as the new Superintendent of Police of Supoul district, the sources added.

Meanwhile, describing the present flood situation in north Bihar as ''catastrophic', the Chief minister said he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within the next couple of days in New Delhi to apprise him of the extent of damage, the loss of human habitation and property caused due to the unprecedented flood.

Underscoring the need for permanent flood control measures in collaboration with the Nepal government, Mr Kumar said since the prime reason for the annual menace was the release of huge amount of water from the lower region of the Himalayan country during monsoon, the interevention of the Centre was a must to prevent the catastrophe.

The problem was aggravated further following the breach in the embankments of river Kosi on the Indo-Nepal border and their repair could be taken up only after receving the green signal from the Nepal government as per the Indo-Nepal agreement, the Chief Minister said.

UNI