Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said that the state is prepared to meet any eventuality in case the third phase of pandemic breaks out.

Talking to media persons after the customary Janta Darbar — an event where people get a chance to talk to the CM about their problems —Kumar said there was no report of Omicron infection in Bihar, so far. “The health department has intensified testing for Covid pandemic across the state to ward off the outbreak of the pandemic. Bihar is among the states, where the rate of testing is, considerably, very high,” said the CM, adding that it’s taking nearly 22-25 days for the test to decipher the new variant of Covid against the previous cycle of 5-7 days.

The CM said that the health department was on alert mode to combat the challenge. “The designated hospitals are geared up with all resources to deal with the pandemic,” he added.

Taking swipe at the opposition’s allegations about the misuse of public money in the name of social reforms campaign, slated to begin this Wednesday, Kumar said he does not care about others perceptions. “Through this campaign, we want to make the society free from addiction, dowry, child-marriage and ensure that all needs of the poor get fulfilled, irrespective of the distance barrier. The families marginalised in the society must be attached with the livelihoods. The campaign for social reforms will go along with the development of the state,” added the CM.

Regarding former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s allegations that the influential persons breach the liquor ban with impunity, Kumar said he didn’t expect a person, who take the pledge to ensure prohibition in the state, talk like that. “Of course, there are still some people, who do not obey the norms and they are caught by the law enforcing machinery,” said the CM.

On being asked for the reasons for the delayed completion of the PM housing scheme units, the CM asked the principal secretary of the rural development department, Arvind Kumar Chaudhary, to explain the situation. Countering the allegations, Chaudhary said that 83% of the houses being built under the scheme were complete, while the pace of construction on the rest would scale up after the Panchayat elections. About 26 lakh housing units are to be completed under the PM Awas Yojana in the state this fiscal.

As many as 135 persons met the CM during the event and sought solutions for their problems related to various departments.