Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday inaugurated a school building and rain shelter built by The Indian Express Group at Sonbarsa in Saharsa district, ravaged by the Kosi flood of 2008.
Kumar expressed deep appreciation for the gesture ? made possible by contributions from the readers and employees of The Indian Express ? and said he would ask engineers in his state to follow the model that led to the construction of the building within a very short time.
?The people of Bihar are deeply touched with this constructive contribution and will always remember it. We will ask our engineers to take a cue from the Express Block model,? Kumar said.
?Your contribution is not about the volume of money spent but about the concern that you showed in the time of our crisis,? the chief minister said.
The two-storey, 12-room Express Block at the Navkumar High School in Lagma, Sonbarsa, was constructed in a record nine months, at a cost of R87 lakh, collected by The Indian Express Citizens Relief Fund. Over 5,000 people attended the inauguration.
An overwhelmed Kumar, who spoke for almost half an hour, said: ?A newspaper is only supposed to report news. But here is a paper that collected money from its readers and employees to contribute to the cause of humanity. People used to shy away from Bihar not too long ago but so many people have started coming to us now. In fact, we want the Centre to depute an IFS official at Patna to coordinate with neighbouring countries offering to work with Bihar.?
Recalling The Indian Express?s contribution during the JP movement, the chief minister said that the Express has enough fire to make or break governments, but Bihar was happy that the Group had channelised its energy to create as well.
Kumar showered praise on project in-charge Swadesh Talwar for his commitment and passion.
Kumar said that the Bihar government continued to be focused on its Kosi rebuilding effort. ?There are some misgivings among people in Nepal about our bid to create a pilot channel mid-course. Nepal thinks this would increase the threat of floods. I assure Nepal that their fears are unfounded. We have also alerted the Centre about floods (this year), and started taking pre-emptive measures,? he said.
The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta said Bihar had come a long way from ?oiling lathis? to ?filling ink in pens?.
?People used to say nothing could happen in this state. Even journalists laughed at Nitish Kumar?s slogan of ?filling ink in pens?, but Bihar has changed, and how,? Gupta said.
?The state has moved from the politics of vendetta to optimism and using available opportunities to the hilt. Politics is now largely centred around the theme of development,? he added.
The Express Group, Gupta said, will always stand by people in need.
The chief minister later walked around the school building and appreciated its design and the quality of construction. He sat in the principal?s chamber for a while, but refused to sit on the chair designated for the principal. He sought information on several minute details, and acceeded to the people?s request to construct a boundary wall for the school. The programme, scheduled to last for an hour, continued for an hour and forty minutes.