Bihar Tragedy: 46 Drown in Separate Jitiya Festival Incidents, CM Responds

Bihar Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary expressed condolences over the deaths of 46 people, including children, from separate drowning incidents during the 'Jitiya' festival. Rescue teams are actively searching, and CM Nitish Kumar announced ex-gratia payments for the victims' families while monitoring the situation closely.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has expressed his condolences over the tragic deaths of 46 individuals, including 37 children, in separate drowning incidents across the state during the 'Jitiya' festival in the last 24 hours. He described the deaths as a serious matter of concern, noting that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is closely monitoring the situation.

According to reports, the drowning incidents occurred in various districts, including East and West Champaran, Aurangabad, Kaimur, Buxar, Siwan, Rohtas, Saran, Patna, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Gopalganj, and Arwal. Choudhary emphasized the unfortunate nature of the incidents and relayed that the Chief Minister had also extended his sympathies to the affected families.

Teams from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are carrying out continuous search operations across the affected areas. The Disaster Management Department of Bihar reported that 43 bodies have been recovered thus far. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased individual. Payments have already begun for eight families, with the process ongoing for the remaining victims' families.

(With inputs from agencies.)