“Very unfortunate…matter of concern”: Bihar Dy CM on death of 46 people during festival of ‘Jitiya’

Patna (Bihar) [India], September 27 (ANI): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary expressed condolences over the deaths of 46 people, including 37 children, who were killed in separate incidents of drowning across Bihar on the festival of ‘Jitiya’ over the last 24 hours. He said that the deaths were a matter of concern and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was monitoring the situation.

Samrat Choudhary said, “This is very unfortunate, it is a matter of concern. CM is monitoring the situation and he has also expressed his condolences.”

A total of 46 people, including 37 children, died in separate incidents of drowning across Bihar on the festival of ‘Jitiya’ over the last 24 hours.

The incidents of drowning were reported from East and West Champaran, Aurangabad, Kaimur, Buxar, Siwan, Rohtas, Saran, Patna, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Gopalganj and Arwal districts.

The teams of SDRF and NDRF from the Disaster Management Department are continuously conducting search operations across the region.

According to the Disaster Management Department, Bihar, 43 bodies have been recovered by the team and an amount of Rs 4 lakh will be provided as ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased.

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister, expressed condolences for the deaths, which included seven women, and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.

Under the instructions of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, an ex-gratia amount has been paid to the families of 8 deceased and the process of payment to the remaining families is ongoing.