Patna - The youths of Bihar may pin shrinking job opportunities on the government's growing dependence on computers, rather than manual workforce, in routine official works but the real sufferers of e-governance are elsewhere. Cats. Sounds bizarre but it's true.

Dozens of cats and their "families" who were fattened up on government funds for decades are now turning lean from starvation since the government went for computerisation of records.

The poor cats have been again forced to go back to preying on rats for survival but there too they hit a hurdle.

The rodent's population too has dwindled much over the years the with the number of official files wrapped in red cloth being on the decline - thanks to the government's new-found love for e-governance.

According to reports, during the days of the Raj, the British government had earmarked funds for cats for their survival in government's old secretariat, and that of course had a very substantial explanation.

With Mother Nature having built cats as natural predators, dexterous in catching rats the British made maximum utilisation of this expertise in saving heaps of important government files awaiting clearance at the officials' tables, scattered on floors for further movements or stored atop cupboards or in the corridors of departments.

Rodents were big threats to these files since they would always nibble their important pages and cause huge damage to official records.

Cats were, thus, invited to stay in government secretariats to work - yes you heard it right - as watchdogs against rats when the staff were away. The practice continued even in Independent India and the cats went on feasting on government's monthly budget of $2.70 in every department. The budget was meant for arranging milk and bread for these cats, but this allotment has now been discarded in the aftermath of government's opting for e-governance, leaving the cats starving.

"There was a monthly allotment of $2.70 per month in the law department itself on food head for cats earlier and the purpose was to save the official files from rodents," said a senior official in the law department Mr Amar Prakash.

According to him, the government had allowed the cats' families to grow in the office, in return their files were safe.

"We have marched ahead from the days of old Remington typewriters which were the usual sights during the time of our predecessor (the RJD rule). Now, we can get government figures and status of official files at the mere clink of (electronic) mouse in some departments including finance and commercial taxes," said Bihar's deputy chief minister Mr Sushil Kumar Modi. If only some would spare a thought for the felines that served the departments for so long.