Central Team to Assess Bihar Flood Damage on September 16 as Opposition Questions Response

Patna: A central team led by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will visit Bihar on September 16, 2026, to assess the flood situation and the damage caused to crops, houses and other infrastructure, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said on Monday (September 14, 2026).

Mr. Choudhary said the Prime Minister had directed that a team be constituted, and that he had spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who confirmed the visit. He thanked the Prime Minister for "thinking about Bihar" while he was occupied with the BRICS summit.

The announcement came a day after Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav criticised both the State and the Union governments over their handling of the floods.

According to the latest figures of the Bihar Disaster Management Department, the floods have affected over 49.36 lakh people across 88 blocks in 15 districts: Patna, Bhojpur, Saran, Vaishali, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Buxar, Samastipur, Munger, Katihar, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Purnea, Arwal and Madhepura.

Mr. Choudhary said officials were monitoring the flood situation and carrying out relief work in the affected areas. Speaking at a Hindi Diwas programme in Patna, he said Bihar's rivers form a vital foundation for the State's life and economy, and that work on river conservation, water management and flood control was being carried out with a long-term perspective. The government's aim, he said, was to minimise the loss of life and property while working towards a permanent and effective solution.

Mr. Yadav said on Sunday that he had written to both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister seeking compensation and a special economic package but had received no response, and that the Union government had been unsympathetic to the State so far.

In a post on X on Monday, he compared the Centre's response to the Bihar floods with its handling of flooding in Gujarat. He said that during a flood in Gujarat a few years ago, the Prime Minister conducted an aerial survey, announced a package of ₹500 crore, deployed Army, Air Force and NDRF teams for relief and rescue, and that victims were given ₹2 lakh each. In Bihar, he said, more than 50 people have died, thousands of livestock are missing, damage runs into thousands of crores and over 45 lakh people are affected, yet no word had come from the Prime Minister or the Home Minister.

Mr. Yadav also referred to rain in Gujarat on July 23 this year, in which one person died, and said the Prime Minister and the Home Minister held a conference with that State's Chief Minister and directed the Air Force and NDRF to remain on alert. "Why such discrimination against our Bihar?" he wrote.

The death toll and the damage estimates cited by Mr. Yadav were from his own statement; the official figures released by the Bihar Disaster Management Department relate to the number of people affected and the districts and blocks inundated.

Bihar is among India's most flood-prone States. Rivers including the Ganga, Kosi, Gandak, Bagmati and Kamala overflow almost every monsoon, inundating large parts of north Bihar and displacing lakhs of residents. Recurrent flooding has long been a subject of political debate in the State, with successive governments facing questions over embankment maintenance, drainage and the pace of relief.

Under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, States first draw on their own State Disaster Response Fund for immediate relief. Additional assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund is considered after an inter-ministerial central team visits the affected areas and assesses the damage, usually following a memorandum submitted by the State government. The team's findings form the basis for deciding the scale of central support.

On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Mr. Choudhary also urged the people of the State to use the language as much as possible in their daily lives. He announced that a two-day 'Hindi Sahitya Samagam' (Hindi Literature Conclave) would be organised in Bihar to promote the literary and cultural reach of Hindi.