Patna, Aug 2 (IANS) A day after a breach in the embankment of Bagmati river in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district flooded nearly 200 villages and left nearly 100,000 people homeless, the political blame game has begun with the opposition Sunday holding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responsible for the floods.
“The breach in the Bagmati embankment was the result of the state government’s negligence. It is solely responsible for this,” former union minister and a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Jai Prakash Yadav said.

The swollen river breached a 100-ft stretch of the embankment at Tilaktajpur in Sitamarhi inundating several villages and affecting thousands.

“I fail to understand how the state government was claiming till Friday that the Bagmati embankment was safe,” Yadav said.

The state Congress president Anil Kumar Sharma said: “The breach has exposed the real functioning of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s government and claims of ’sushashan’ (good governance). The breach was result of rampant corruption and negligence of officials concerned.

“How was a newly constructed embankment breached? Guilty officials should be identified and stern action should be taken against them,” Sharma said.

Another Congress leader Amlendu Kumar Pandey said: “The embankment was constructed last year at a cost of Rs.792 crore but the breach has made it clear that money was looted by officials concerned.”

Till Friday, the district administration and engineers maintained that there was no threat to the embankment from the rising water level of Bagmati river. According to official sources, the embankment was repaired and strengthened last year.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a probe and has promised stern action against the erring officials.

Major rivers in north Bihar like Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas.

With heavy rainfall recorded in neighbouring Nepal also, the water levels of these rivers have been rising to dangerous levels for the last four to five days.