PATNA: Rats are once again hot in the news in Bihar. This time, too, for the wrong reasons. Two ministers on Friday blamed the rodents for the floods that devastated the state’s northern and eastern parts last month. Mention of the hairy creatures as the cause behind the tragedy made the Opposition’s hair stand on end.
“Seepage from the Kamlabalan river through the embankments, which led to flooding of large areas and breaching of the embankments, was caused by rats. Rats are the main reason behind the floods in the state,” said water resources minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh after reviewing the flood situation.
As many as 525 people were killed and over 1.70 crore people were affected by the floods that ravaged 19 districts for over two weeks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas along with chief minister Nitish Kumar, declared an immediate relief of Rs 500 crore for the affected people.
“People living close to the embankments store their grains on the embankments, which draws a large number of the rats. These animals then make holes in the embankments, weakening the structures and ultimately causing floods,” said Singh, elaborating his contention.
Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Bihar’s minor irrigation and disaster management minister, also backed Singh’s theory. “Rats play a major role in weakening the embankments. They are certainly a reason for the floods. There seems to be no solution for rats and mosquitoes,” he said.
In prohibition-bound Bihar, the government had faced embarrassments in May when police claimed that rats had gulped down a significant portion of confiscated liquor kept in the storerooms of police stations. The police brass later disowned the claim. Now, the two ministers’ statements angered not only the Opposition RJD but also prompted the ruling BJP to raise questions.
Dismissing the role of rats in the floods, BJP legislator Mithilesh Tiwary said: “In the Assembly, when questions were asked about the embankments, the minister had said that they are safe and strong. So how was such a massive flood caused? Blaming rats would not help any more. Accountability must be fixed”.
“Rats are drinking thousands of litres of alcohol. Rats are eating up hundreds of quintals of grains in godowns. Now rats are also causing floods. So, since rats are so powerful, why are they (government) not making space for these rodent to occupy the seat of power?” asked former finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui of RJD.
RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said his party would soon tell the people the “real reasons” behind the floods and expose how public money was looted by politicians and bureaucrats in the name of flood prevention in Bihar.