Patna, Sept 1: Rats seem to be the biggest problem that Bihar is facing right now. Some time back, Bihar police had claimed that the rodents had finished off hundreds of litres of alcohol after the government imposed a complete ban on liquor in the state. Now, state ministers have blamed the same for causing the devastating floods in Bihar that have already claimed over 500 lives.
Water resources minister, Lalan Singh, after reviewing the flood situation, claimed that rats had damaged the river embankments, which has in turn caused the floods.
“Rats are the main reason behind the seepage of Kamla Balan River. Villagers tend to store their grains on the banks thus attracting the rodents. These animals then carve out holes in the embankments thus weakening the foundation,” he said.
However, this bizarre reasoning hasn’t gone down too well among the opposition parties. RJD Spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav alleged that the government was only trying to hide its failure with such illogical statements.
“Sometimes they say that the rats have consumed the seized liquor, then they blame them for the floods. If rats are causing so much of problem, then they should come up with a plan to tackle the animals. But they haven’t done anything about that as these are baseless arguments,” he said.
Not just the Opposition, ruling BJP MLA Mithilesh Tiwari also denounced Lalan Singh’s contention. “In a written reply in the Assembly, the government had assured us that all dams are secure, then how can they blame the rats. Officials are responsible for this and they should be held accountable,” Tiwari demanded.
Earlier, the state police had come under fire for arguing that the rodents had finished off hundreds of litres of alcohol, that were seized from Bihar residents after the liquor ban. It had only come to the fore when the media caught up with the police and discovered that the bottles were missing from police 'malkhanas' (stores).
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