8-hour power supply to meet drought-like situation

Facing drought-like situation in major areas of the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today ordered to supply eight hours of uninterrupted power supply in rural areas for agricultural purposes.
He gave the instruction after a review meeting in which senior officials of all the departments were present, an official release said.
The chief minister asked senior officials to ensure that eight hour uninterrupted electricity to help farmers cultivate land.
He also ordered for replacing burnt transformers and enhancing their capacity.
Kumar instructed the officials to see all handpumps are functional if not repair them or change them with new ones, the release added.

In the meeting it was observed that rain deficiency has hit major parts of Bihar. As against expected rainfall of 469.4 mm in the month of July the actual rainfall is 349.63 mm which is 26 per cent less than the expected rainfall in the month of July.
So far 23 districts have experienced less than 50 per cent rainfall. Due to this plantation of paddy could be only 43 per cent while that of maize sowing is 86 per cent.
Chief Secretary A K Sinha said that the government has approved diesel subsidy of Rs 769 crore in view of drought-like situation.