Patna(IANS) : The Bihar government has launched four major flood protection schemes worth Rs.16.23 billion to minimise loss of lives and property due to floods every year.
Official sources said the central government has approved the schemes.
The schemes cleared are Bagmati flood management, Mahananda river basin flood management, Chandan embankment and Kamla river embankment schemes.
Bihar Water Resources Minister Ramashray Prasad Singh told IANS Friday that submerged areas would be rid of floods after the completion of the four schemes.
In the Mahananda river basin scheme, about 196 km of new embankments would be built at a cost of Rs.6.03 billion. Old embankments would be raised and strengthened. Besides, metalled roads would be built on these embankments, Singh said. The scheme is expected to make 593,000 hectares in the state free of floods.
The Bagmati flood management scheme, which would cost Rs.6.03 billion, is expected to make 1.5 million hectares flood-free.
Floodwaters have inundated 21 of the state’s 38 districts this year, mostly in the northern areas, bordering Nepal, affecting 25 million people and rendering thousands homeless.
According to state disaster management department, 951 people were killed in floods this year.
After presiding over a flood relief meeting, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Thursday directed officials to provide one-quintal of food grain and Rs.200 to 4.9 million flood-hit families by this month end.
The state government has also decided to pay compensation of Rs.4,000 per hectare to farmers who lost 60 percent of their standing crops.