BJP,The main opposition Party of India. asks Prime Minister to declare Bihar flood as national calamity

The BJP today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to treat the alarming flood situation in Bihar as a national calamity and take up with Nepal the issue of a major breach in Kosi river in the Himalayan country which triggered the deluge. "A three kilometre barrage over the Koshi river in Nepal is damaged.

We demand that the Prime Minister's office should intervene in the matter and take up the issue with the Nepal government to save Bihar from further flood devastation," party spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad told reporters here. "We also ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take up the matter as an issue of national calamity and initiate a coordinated action involving the defence forces due to the urgency," he added.

Prasad said "it was for the first time in the last two decades that Koshi river has changed its course and the PMO needs to take up the matter with Nepali government to combat the crisis." It is very unfortunate that the some political leaders from Bihar in the union ministry are engaged in playing politics over the flood situation in the state, he said.

The flood has affected lakhs of people in several districts of Bihar including Araria, Supaul, Purnia, Madhepura, Muzaffarpur and Nalanda.

Source:PTI