Muzaffarpur, Aug. 29: A reality check turned bitter for state minister for disaster and relief management Divesh Chandra Thakur on Sunday.

The minister was at the receiving end as flood victims vented out their ire on the delegation which visited the affected areas to take stock of the situation and monitor relief and rehabilitation measures here on Sunday.

Divisional commissioner (Tirhut) S.M. Raju and the district magistrate Anand Kishore and some government officials accompanied Thakur.

Thakur, at the behest of chief minister Nitish Kumar, visited flood-hit pockets of Katra and Gaighat blocks with his team. There they faced the wrath of displaced people whose houses were either washed away or left inundated by gushing waters.

As soon as the caravan of the minister arrived at Katra block headquarters this afternoon, displaced people from village panchayats of Dhanor, Changel, Amma, Basghatta and Shivdaspur raided the area and decried the lethargic approach of the concerned officials in relief distribution.

Nearly 5,000 people gathered at the block headquarters to collect food grains. They suddenly lost their cool on seeing the minister and started shouting slogans against the state government.

Mantri wapas jao (Minister go back), they shouted at the top of their voice and soon the situation turned chaotic.

S.M. Raju and Anand Kishore tried to pacify the victims. They ordered distribution of one quintal of wheat and Rs 2,250 to every displaced family.

The minister assured stringent action against circle officer Mohd Quaiyum Ansari and the block development officer Sudhir Ranjan Sharma for “carelessness and haphazard distribution of relief material”.

Members of panchayat bodies listed names of thousand of families who got displaced in recent days and took refuge along the embankment, schools, panchayat buildings and high rises. When the minister’s caravan moved towards Aurai, more protests and sloganeering followed.

The delegation was stunned to see starvation-like situation prevailing in areas near the embankments of Bagmati and Lakhandai rivers. Mangu Sahni of Harni village showed his empty bowl to the minister and said he and his family members have not cooked to eaten anything since several days.

Mohd Aslam of Maqsudpur village said: “This government has done nothing for us. We have been starving for days now. No relief measures have reached us yet.”

Crying children clung to the feet of the visiting officials and sought food from them.

Mohd Mustaquim of Babhangama village showed the minister the rotten wheat given to them in name of relief.

The minister immediately ordered the officials to replace the food stock and supply better-quality wheat. Supply Officer (SO) Norul Hoda admitted that the flood victims of Babhangama village have been served inferior and rotten quality grains.

Later in the day, angry flood victims gharaoed circle officer Baikunth Sharma and Pankaj Kumar’s office for a couple of hours.

Talking to The Telegraph, S.M. Raju said that the relief seekers complained about their state to the minister and added that relief distribution is being carried out on war footing now.