Nitish inaugurates & lays foundation stone of schemes worth Rs

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday inaugurated and laid foundation stone of various development schemes worth Rs 197.55 crore during the "Jagrukta Sammelan" (awareness conference) in Lakhisarai district.

Addressing a public meeting at Sri Govind high school premises in Rampur panchayat, Kumar stressed on the importance of keeping the environment intact besides asking people to be aware of climate change and its adverse impact, an official release said.

The Jagrukta Sammelan was held as part of the "Jal- Jiwan-Hariyali' drive to create awareness about water conservation and afforestation which are essential to sustain life on the planet.

The drive's objective is to bring improvement in climate change besides bringing social awareness with regard to climate change, Kumar said.

Climate change has its impact everywhere and has also impacted monsoon arrival in the state which used to hit the state by June 15, he added.

"The state used to receive an average annual rainfall of 1200-1500 mm. It has reached to 1027 mm in the past 30 years and if we study the rainfall of past 13 years, the average rainfall has been reported at 901 mm. Sometimes we witness untimely rain, sometimes high amount of rainfall while sometimes there is a drought like situation," Kumar said.

Stating that the practice of stubble burning has reached Bihar from Punjab and Haryana, the CM said that the government will motivate people not to burn crop residues besides helping farmers in this regard.

The state government has made power available to all households, Kumar said, adding that now it is working hard to provide power connection to all willing farmers for irrigation purpose.

After providing electricity to every household in the state, Kumar said that the government would make piped drinking water under "Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal" scheme available by before assembly elections (due in October-November 2020).

The CM exhorted people to show their commitment by participating in a "human chain" which will be formed on January 19, 2020 across the state in support of prohibition and climate change and against the practice of dowry and child marriage.

"Four crore people participated during a human chain formed on January 21, 2017 in support of prohibition while a human chain was formed on 14,000 km stretch on January 21, 2018 against dowry and child marriage. This is a record in itself ...

"Again on January 19, 2020 a human chain will be formed in support of prohibition and climate change and against the practice of dowry and child marriage. You (people) should show your commitment during the human chain by holding one another's hand for half an hour from 11:00 am," Kumar said.

Information and Public Relations Minister Neeraj Kumar, Labour Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha, MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, chief secretary Deepak Kumar and Director General of Police Gupteshwar also addressed the gathering, the release added.