Bihar against ‘adoption’ of villages

The Bihar Government is against the idea of corporate houses, film stars, trusts and voluntary groups “adopting...

The Bihar Government is against the idea of corporate houses, film stars, trusts and voluntary groups “adopting” flood-ravaged villages. Instead, it wants them to raise village infrastructure like building schools, community halls, health centres and roads.

The Government has taken the “tough” call following its decision to build or reconstruct adequate homes — over 3.5 lakh of them — at the cost of Rs 1.5 lakh each. It has been waiting for the disbursement of Rs 9,000 crore additional flood package, which includes Rs 4,500 crore for homes, from the Centre.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Sunday, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said: “Allowing corporate houses to build homes would only create confusion. We are building adequate homes for the flood-hit and want others to add value to our efforts.”

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Modi said the Tamil Nadu Government’s post-tsunami experience with corporate groups and individuals regarding rehabilitation had not been rewarding. “In some cases, some private groups left the scene without completely raising homes. On the other hand, quality homes for some caused heartburns among a big group of the displaced.”

The Deputy Chief Minister said state Development Commissioner S Vijayaraghvan would be nodal officer to coordinate with voluntary groups and corporate houses. The Development Commissioner recently visited Bhuj (Gujarat) and Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) to study house models post-earthquake and tsunami. The Government will get Vijayaraghvan report after Dussehra.

Most corporate houses have only made announcements so far. “Let them come to us, we will give them detailed development chart. We want development efforts to be uniformly distributed in all five flood-hit districts,” said Modi expressing reservations for “adopting a village” slogan.

Among the corporate houses, only Reliance (Mukesh Ambani group) and Jindal have come forward with the former donating Rs 11 crore and the latter distributing food and clothes in over 100 flood-hit villages. Among film stars, Salman Khan and Suniel Shetty have expressed their desire to adopt villages. The Government, however, has not received any proposal from them.

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Several voluntary groups have also approached the Government to join them in the rehabilitation phase. The Government, however, wants them to diversify their field of action from Supual. The district magistrates have been asked to give them locations to help avoid overlapping.

Oxfam (a voluntary group) Bihar coordinator Mani Kumar said: “We are waiting for the Government nod and also coordinating with other NGOs.”

Disaster Management Additional Commissioner Pratyay Amrit said the rehabilitation phase would start after October 15. He said as the response to Bihar floods had been overwhelming, the Government had a big coordination task ahead to rationalise the support pouring in from all corners.