Revisiting the flood plains of Bihar -Press Statement

A Fact Finding Team comprising of ecologist, engineer, public health researcher, social scientist, environmental scientist, and journalists from different part of the country is visiting Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi Balan and Baghmati river in Bihar and Nepal. The visit is scheduled from 1st March-8th March, 2008.

Kosi is a transboundary river between Nepal and India and is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganga.

The team aims to study the human relation with the river, unprecedented ecological rupture in the region, emergence of a canal colony and its impact in terms of diverse costs incurred.

Historically, two rivers in Asia, Huang Ho river in China and Kosi river in Bihar are known as the rivers of sorrow. The rivers were named so because these rivers have caused widespread human suffering in the past.

Coincidentally, the Fact Finding Team's visit assumes significance in the backdrop of Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar having received the report of yet another technical committee headed by Nilendu Sanyal on 22 February, 2008 in Patna. The committee was formed in the wake of the last floods, which ravaged major parts of the state for suggesting measures to check recurring flood in Bihar.

This trend of examining the problem with committees after committees began in 1936 and repeated in 1954 without acting on its recommendations. Sanyal had already submitted a report in 1988 in this regard that too is gathering dust.

Not surprisingly, the committee and the government are once again looking for technological solutions to the problem. The team would examine the current situation in the light of 207 recommendations for improving the flood situation given by Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Commission on Floods).

The team would study how interfering with its flow circuits has undermined natural drainage and examine the efficacy of the solution to the problem of floods that is offered by the government in the context of the ecological integrity of the rivers and a dependent relationship between people and their rivers.

This week long visit to Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi Balan and Baghmati river by the fact finding team is significant since this river has moved westwards by 160 km in the past 250 years and is crucial to Interlinking of Rivers project. And of the Himalayan component, 6 river-link canals out of the 30 link canals in the Networking of Rivers are directly related to Bihar. Two of these links are related to Kosi.

As per the National Water Development Agency's plan, a Multi-Purpose High Dam across river Kosi is proposed to be constructed near village, Barahkshetra in Nepal. Besides the High Dam, a barrage across Kosi river is also proposed below the Dam, to transfer water to Mechi river through the Kosi-Mechi link canal.

The team would witness, study the current status of the river, flood dependent agrarian regime, flood vulnerability, flood control measures, the agents of change who have attempted to comprehend whether the ecosystem of Kosi is healthy, is developing towards a healthy condition or is it falling apart since it has reached its carrying capacity. The findings of the team and its composition would be shared with media in due course.

For details contact after 9th March:

Dr Dinesh Kumar Mishra, 0919431303360, E-mail: dineshkmishra@rediffmail.com
Dr Sudhirendar Sharma, 09868384744, E-mail: sudhirendar@vsnl.net
Gopal Krishna, 09818089660, E-mail: krishnagreen@gmail.com