Patna: A central team led by Union agriculture and farmers welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will visit Bihar on Sept 16 to study the flood situation and assess damage caused by recent floods, CM Samrat Choudhary said on Monday.Addressing a cabinet secretariat department programme in Patna, Choudhary said Union home minister Amit Shah informed him by phone about the team’s proposed visit. The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the Centre to form a team to examine Bihar’s flood-related problems.“Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued an instruction to constitute a central team for Bihar floods, and today, the Union home minister told me over phone that a central team, headed by Chouhan, will visit Bihar to study the overall flood situation,” Choudhary said.The chief minister thanked Modi for the decision, saying the Centre had responded to the state’s concerns despite the Prime Minister’s other engagements. “Despite being extremely busy with the hosting of an international conference like BRICS, PM Modi remained sensitive to the flood situation in Bihar,” he said.Choudhary said the state govt was working continuously to find a permanent solution to Bihar’s flood problem. He said rivers were central to the state’s life and economy and needed interlinking and protection. Long-term work was under way for conservation of the river system, water management and flood control, the CM said. The govt’s aim, he added, is to reduce loss of life and property and create a permanent and effective mechanism to deal with floods.According to an official, around 49 lakh people in 15 districts of Bihar have been affected by the floods.In 2024, a seven-member Inter-Ministerial Central Team led by Parthsarthy, the then joint secretary in the ministry of home affairs, had visited Bihar to assess flood damage. The delegation reached Patna on a three-day tour, conducted field visits in severely affected areas on Oct 20 and 21, and held a formal assessment meeting with state govt officials on Oct 22.The state govt had then sought Rs 3,638 crore from the Centre for damage to embankments, roads, buildings, crops and power lines.
