Lalu meets Nitish over better relief for flood-hit people

Amid media reports of poor facilities at various flood relief camps in Bihar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad today called on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss ways for improving them and make arrangements from the state's resources in the absence of Central aid.
Prasad arrived at the Chief Minister's official residence, '1 Anne Marg', and had an over-an-hour-long meeting with him.
"We discussed the ways and means to further improve the amenities at the flood relief camps," Prasad told reporters after the meeting.
He said in view of absence of aid from the Centre, "we discussed to make arrangements from the state's limited resources to compensate the loss suffered by the people in the flood."

Prasad said it was underscored that large-scale health services should be run at the affected areas to prevent outbreak of diseases once the flood waters recede.
The RJD chief's elder son, Tej Pratap Yadav, is the Health Minister of the state.

Prasad claimed that the Centre was not showing "much interest in helping the people" in the flood-hit areas, adding, "We are committed to the masses and we will arrange the resources on our own to help those marooned."
He said during the meeting, it was stressed that the grand secular alliance government in the state should give an impetus to development works.

Besides Chief Minister Kumar, the RJD chief and his sons, state ministers Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, are criss-crossing the state to take stock of the situation at the relief camps and giving instructions to the officials.
The state government is running 655 relief camps at the flood-hit areas in which around 3.97 lakh people have been given shelter.