Punjab to dispatch animal fodder to Bihar

Chandigarh, Aug 29 (UNI) Punjab will soon dispatch chaff to the flood ravaged areas of Bihar facing severe shortage of animal fodder.

This was stated by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who telephoned his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar and Union Railways Minister Laloo Prasad to express his solidarity with the flood-affected people of Bihar.

He said consignments of animal fodder would leave for Bihar soon. There is severe shortage of animal fodder in that state following unprecedented deluge that has left vast areas completely inundated.

Mr Badal said although Punjab, too, had been facing problems following floods in some parts of the state, ''the people and the Government of Punjab were guided by the message of Gurus that taught us to work towards the welfare of the entire mankind (Sarbat da Bhalaa)''.

Mr Badal assured the Bihar Chief Minister that the government and the people of Punjab would stand by their Bihar brethren in their hour of adversity and would extend all kinds of assistance that the latter needed at this juncture.

''We would respond to the Prime Minister's call for treating the Bihar floods as a national calamity in view of the severity, magnitude and intensity of floods there'', he said in a statement here.

'' We in Punjab know what it means to be hit by floods as we are battling with the same problem for the past few weeks. We would be acting in the greatest traditions of generosity, humane-ness and large-hearted response to other people's crises which the Punjabis are rightly famous for,'' Mr Badal added.

The Chief Minister also assured the Government of India of all possible help in containing the damage and destruction caused by floods in Bihar.

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