Bihar CM seeks flood relief from Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, Sep 2 (ANI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and sought rehabilitation package for the victims of last year's devastating floods.

Kumar said that Prime Minister Singh has assured he would visit the state soon.

"I had to discuss flood situation and also the rehabilitation package for the victims of last year's Kosi floods, for which I have been urging since long. People, whose houses were damaged, have been facing hardships for the last one year. We have requested the Prime Minister that a decision on this should be taken at the earliest," Nitish Kumar said.

Kosi river burst its banks in Bihar and flooded half of the state last year, wiping out villages and farms and displacing more than three million people.

Despite deficient monsoon rains across the country this year, major rivers were in spate in Bihar.he Kosi, a tributary of the mighty Ganges, last year flooded an area roughly the size of Belgium. The floods changed the course of the river, shifting it 120 km (75 miles) towards a dry river channel it last flowed through 250 years ago.

Bihar is the fifth largest producer of rice in India and agriculture experts say it will take a long time for the region to recover. (ANI)