Bihar CM calls floods serious, highlights power subsidy in 150-day report card

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary presented his government's 150-day report card, highlighting its work in education, industry and subsidies while outlining measures to tackle the state's annual flood crisis.Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary speaks at the ‘NDA Government, Prosperous Bihar’ session of Panchayat Aaj Tak in Patna.Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Wednesday presented a 150-day report card of his government, highlighting the opening of 211 degree colleges in a single day, the construction of 700 model schools and the allocation of nearly 1,000 acres of land for industries. He said his government’s goal was to ensure that by 2030, no youngster from Bihar would have to leave the state to pursue education.Choudhary also spoke about the annual menace of floods in Bihar. This year’s deluge affected around 49 lakh people across 15 districts. Calling the situation serious, he outlined the measures being undertaken by his government to minimise the impact of floods in the coming years.Speaking at the ‘NDA Government, Prosperous Bihar’ session at Panchayat Aaj Tak in Patna, Choudhary pointed out development work had accelerated over the past three to four months, while acknowledging the contribution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to Bihar’s development.Asked about the BJP’s long-standing dream of having one of its own as Bihar’s Chief Minister, Samrat Choudhary was reminded that Bihar was the only Hindi-speaking state where the party had never held the top post. He was asked what had been done to fulfil people’s dreams now that the BJP’s own dream had been realised. In response, Samrat Choudhary said there was no doubt that people’s expectations were high, but development work had continuously progressed over the past three to four months.Referring to the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he acknowledged that Nitish Kumar had done a lot of work in electricity, roads and education. His government was now focusing on building on that work and accelerating it.BIHAR CM EXPLAINS HOW SILT WORSENS FLOOD CRISIS Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary explained the math behind the state’s annual floods, saying Bihar receives water from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Nepal’s Terai region.Around 6.5 lakh cusecs of water comes from Uttar Pradesh, while about 11.5 lakh cusecs reaches Bihar from Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Water from Nepal’s Terai region, he said, depends on rainfall there, making Bihar a junction for the waters of several rivers.Choudhary said the Ganga is a major challenge, with increasing silt affecting the river’s course and the spread of water. He said the Ganga is about six kilometres wide when it enters Bihar near Buxar, but the width rises to around 32 kilometres in the area where water is discharged towards Jharkhand. In Bhagalpur, it is around 26 kilometres wide, and around 22 kilometres in Khagaria and Munger.Calling this year’s situation serious, Choudhary said around 17 lakh cusecs of water came into the Ganga, while its water level was about a foot higher than in 2016. He said the state had already worked on the Kosi and Gandak, but the challenge posed by rivers and floods remained.He also flagged the Farakka Barrage and silt accumulation up to Bhagalpur as key issues. He said the government had formulated a silt policy and was working on using soil extracted from the Ganga and north Bihar’s rivers.Choudhary said Bihar would also raise its concerns over water sharing, particularly its need for water for drinking and agriculture. He said the government was seeking a permanent solution by working on river flow, silt and water use. A team has also been sent to the Netherlands to study river management, he said.SAMRAT CHOUDHARY'S VISION ON EDUCATIONThe Chief Minister said around 3.5 lakh children were studying in the model schools. Earlier, children aspired to study at Netarhat, Sainik School, Deoghar’s Ramakrishna Mission School or Simultala. The same system has now been brought to the model schools, where good teachers have been appointed and complete facilities for NEET preparation are being provided.Alongside this, the government has launched the Vidyarthi Saathi app. Samrat Choudhary said that even if a child needs to study at 1 am, a teacher will be available. Once students log in to the app using an OTP, a teacher becomes available within a minute, and the facility remains operational round the clock.On average, 1.5 lakh children use the app to study at 1 am, while the number rises to two lakh on Sundays. The entire data is tracked in real time.He said that in the 80 years since Independence, there had been only 272 degree colleges across Bihar, and there were no colleges at the block level. He said 211 degree colleges were opened in a single day on July 15.To ensure that there was no shortage of teachers, the process was started on June 25 and recruitment and postings were completed in a record one month. The Chief Minister said that when he personally met these teachers, he learnt that many had left jobs in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai to return to Bihar.He also said that Nitish Kumar had recruited around seven lakh teachers.BIHAR CM ON INDUSTRY, BUDGET AND SUBSIDIESAsked about Nitish Kumar’s legacy, he said that former Bihar Chief Ministers Shri Babu, Karpoori Thakur and Nitish Kumar had made major contributions to the making of Bihar. He said the need now was to accelerate the pace of development so that Bihar could catch up with Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka.He said that when he was Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister, the process of acquiring around 13,000 acres of land for industries had been initiated.Bihar is a landlocked state with a dense population of 14 crore. Earlier, 87 per cent of the revenue came from Jharkhand, but today Jharkhand has a budget of Rs 1.39 lakh crore, while Bihar’s budget stands at Rs 3.17 lakh crore.He said Bihar is today the state providing the highest subsidies.The state provides subsidies worth Rs 23,000 crore on electricity alone. Around 1.92 crore domestic consumers receive 125 units of free electricity, while around Rs 6,000 crore is spent on providing electricity to farmers at a rate of 55 paise per unit.- EndsPublished By: Sayan GangulyPublished On: Sep 18, 2026 21:07 IST