Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday sought assistance of Rs. 12000 crores from the Central Government as relief for the 33 drought-hit districts of the state.
"In Bihar, we have declared 33 districts out of 38 as drought-hit. We are closely watching the situation in the rest of the five districts and if need be, we will declare them as drought affected as well. This is very serious issue. There is our rough estimate of Rs.12000 crores," he said.
Kumar met Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and would be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday to apprise him of the situation in the State.
The Bihar Government on Wednesday declared 33 out of the 38 districts of state as drought-hit.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Nitish Kumar.
According to reports, Principal secretary (Cabinet coordination and secretariat) Brajesh Mehrotra and the principal secretary (Disaster management department) Vyasji said the decision was taken because of deficient rainfall in these districts at 20 per cent below normal during the monsoon season.
