Patna: Leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare Bihar’s flood situation a “national disaster” and provide a Rs 5,000-crore central assistance package for relief, rescue and rehabilitation operations.In a letter to the PM after visiting flood-hit diara areas, Tejashwi said rising river levels and widespread inundation had affected millions of people, disrupting normal life and damaging public infrastructure.He alleged that the state govt’s relief and rescue efforts were inadequate compared with the scale of the crisis and accused NDA leaders in the state of failing to press the Centre for additional assistance.The RJD leader said flood victims were struggling to access food, safe drinking water, medicines, electricity, animal fodder and transportation. He sought immediate deployment of additional boats and rescue resources in cut-off areas and requested assistance from Army and Air Force helicopters for rescue and relief operations in severely affected regions.Tejashwi also demanded adequate supplies of food, drinking water, medicines, fodder and temporary shelters for affected families. He called for special financial assistance for farmers, labourers, livestock owners and others whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the floods.Seeking long-term measures, he proposed a Flood Resilience Mission for Bihar focusing on river and embankment management, drainage improvement, revival of water bodies and modern flood forecasting systems. He also stressed the need for stronger water-management coordination with Nepal and other neighbouring countries.The opposition leader further sought an independent review of Bihar’s disaster-management preparedness and utilisation of contingency funds. He said saving lives and assisting affected people should remain the immediate priority and urged the Centre to treat the flood crisis as a humanitarian challenge requiring urgent intervention.
