lalu to ask PM and Sonia to take aerial survay of bihar

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has said that he would ask PM Manmohan Singh, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and HM Shivraj Patil to make an aerial survey of the flood-affected districts of Bihar to see for themselves the devastation caused by floods.Prasad, who made an aerial survey of the flood-affected districts of north Bihar, blamed the state Government for not taking up flood protection work on time and not sharing vital information with the Centre about conditions of embankments and flood protection work with the centre.After making an aerial survey of Araria, Purnea, Madhepura and other flood-affected north Bihar districts, Prasad told reporters in Patna that state government’s “apathy” towards completing the flood protection work in time had caused the floods.He said “At this hour of crisis, I am not interested in indulging in blame game and prepared to help the state government in mitigating the problems of flood affected people.”The railway minister said that state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should have taken lessons from previous floods and completed the work of embankments before 15th June but he failed to do so.Prasad said Kumar should take disciplinary action against the officials who “misguided” him and failed to complete the flood fighting work on time.Stating that the Centre would fully support the Bihar government in mitigating the sufferings of flood affected people of north Bihar, Prasad announced the railways would not charge a single penny for transporting fodder to flood-hit districts.Besides, boulders required for plugging the breaches in embankments would also be transported free of cost to Bihar, Prasad said.