Drainage Crisis of Kosi

8/14/2019 Drainage Crisis of Kosi

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assured full administrative support and security to Indian engineers.

After the breach, on August 18-19, 2008 Nepal government had said that Kosi treaty is a "historic blunder" but Nepal

government's inconsistent and ambiguous position now on the Kosi High Dam proposal based on the same treaty must be

exposed in the Nepali parliament and media.

The Worst is Still to Come

In order to save Kosi region from an ecological and human disaster, Nepali and Indian legislators must take a categorical

position based on a referendum on Kosi.

On August 19, 2008, the chairman of the Expert Committee on the Implementation

of recommendations of Rashtriya Barh Ayog, R Rangachari said, It is my

impression that not much has been done to implement the suggestions made by the

committees report. Rangachari was on the Prime Ministers Task Force on Flood

Control in 2004.

The National Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the Government of India made a

solemn pledge to the people of the country in 2004 to undertake Long-pending

schemes in specific states that have national significance, like flood control

and drainage in North Bihar. Despite acknowledging the problem, it is shocking

that neither the Central nor Bihar Government conducts any survey to assess the

effect of flood control measures on the socio-economic conditions of society.

On August 20, 2008, after the breach in the embankment at Kusaha in the Kosi

region, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, took stock of

the post-calamity situation in the Kosi region and said Kosi agreement was a

historic blunder. The people are suffering due to this. The agreement had led

to the construction of embankments and proposals for a high dam.

Following an aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Bihar, the Indian

Prime Minister on August 28, 2008, termed the flood crisis as a national

calamity. More than four years have passed since the Indian Prime Minister made

the promise in the CMP. Now, in August 2008 he declared, A high-level team

would be set up to coordinate matters with the Government of Nepal. He also

promised protective structures and technical assistance to state government to

prevent further deterioration in the embankments. Such dangling of carrots and

providing band-aid remedies are horribly insincere and it has been going on for

over 60 years.

Bihars floods in August 2008 caused the eighth breach in the embankments.

According to the Bihar Governments own reports, last year 48 lakh people in 22

districts were in need of assistance due to floods. Clearly, it is not the

extent, but the unpredictable intensity of the crisis that makes it a

catastrophe. The primary function of floodwater is to drain out excess water. It

has not been allowed to perform its functions due to engineering interventions.

Hundreds of reports prepared by Commissions of all ilks are gathering dust. At

most, they become election campaign tools. The Commission should recommend

fixing charges of criminal neglect against the members of the Kosi High-Level

Committee, who waited for the calamity despite having information that could

have led to timely evacuation of the people.


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The drainage problem has failed to alter the policy regime of the country that

favours structural solutions regardless of the natural drainage it may impede.

Proposals like a high dam on the Kosi are as good as jumping from the frying pan

into the fire, if the experience with embankments is anything to go by. Even

when one chooses to ignore the changing morphology of the river, the estimated

lifespan of a dam and embankment being 25 and 37 years respectively, underlines

the transitory nature of the technocentric interventions. The Union Ministry of

Water Resources misled the Rajya Sabha on March 11, 2008 claiming, Government

has taken various steps in the direction of water management to stop the flood

in north Bihar coming from the rivers of Nepal. There has been no significant

shift in the way the Kosi issue was perceived in the 1950s and in 2008.

The issue of the Kosi High Dam, first raised in 1948, has been sold to the

victims as one of the permanent solutions to recurring floods. Ironically,

embankments as temporary solutions have become reasonably permanent whereas the

permanent solution has remained elusive. What is permanent and how permanent

is permanence? It must be acknowledged now that there is a condemnable

insincerity in proposing multi-purpose high dams for flood control, because the

dams are proposed to tap the hydropower potential. Is it not clear that when the

multipurpose flood control, irrigation and power dam is talked about, the

real motive of the proposal in question is ignored? Clearly, political parties

hold a stake in such power projects that make them little concernend with the

masses struggling to remain afloat. A few days ago, Nepalese Prime Minister,

Prachanda, conveyed his affirmation for the hydel power project in a meeting

with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Conclusion

There is a compelling logic behind seeking immediate review of the Indo- Nepal

Kosi Treaty that created the rationale for embankments and dams. Continuing with

it would amount to flogging a dead horse. The congestion in North Bihar and

Nepal is a problem of permanent water-logging that has remained overlooked for

several decades. Floods, earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis cannot be

controlled. But the catastrophe they cause can be predicted, anticipated and

prevented. Drainage of the river must remain sacrosanct, besides timely

evacuation of human and animal population and the establishment of robust public

health systems.

Given its distinct geo-morphological features and complicated hydrological

characters, the Kosi is one of the Himalayan rivers that is yet to be

understood in its entirety. It is high time that policy makers gave up their

outdated conquest over nature paradigm. We have to learn to live with the

floods, only this time, in far more readiness.

Ecological and futuristic vision based state interventions must treat natural flow of rivers as sacrosanct and natural habitats

must not be tampered with, which we must maintain if we want life to exist on Earth. Instead of a gigantic dam, what is

needed is a gigantic network of very small scale water management schemes, including a vast network of small dams in

Himalayas.

NEW DELHI: The Kosi river, which changed its course and washed away the homes and livelihoods of nearly 15 million people in Bihar,has reinforced the need for effective water management on a priority basis, says a top official of India's Planning Commission.


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"The flood caused by the Kosi in Bihar underlines the need for storing water by building dams or barrages. Since the issue involves Nepal,vigorous diplomatic efforts are needed," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, told media.

"I do not see any other viable solution. We will have to think and act in terms of storing Kosi water wherever possible and necessary. Let'shope the government acts fast accordingly," he added.

Kosi has an age-old sobriquet, 'Sorrow of Bihar'. The river gathers water from the Himalayas and flows down from Nepal to India beforejoining the Ganga near Kursaila in Katihar, now an inundated district in north Bihar. It is also called Sapta Kosi as the river has seven majortributaries, Sun Kosi, Tama Kosi, Dudh Kosi, Indravati, Likhu, Arun and Tamar.

The river carries around 80 million tonnes of silt every year, a possible reason for it changing course from time to time. It has an averagedischarge of over 55,000 cusecs of water, which goes up sharply during the monsoon.

On April 25, 1954, India and Nepal signed the first Kosi Agreement. By 1963, a barrage was built at Bhimnagar near the Nepal border. A 39-km long embankment from the barrage to Chatra in Nepal was also built.

Spurs, diagonal structures that check the speed of the river's current, were built to protect the barrage. The jacketing of the Kosi wassuccessful in controlling the river's direction, but did not address the problem of siltation.

Till this year, Kosi used to flood north Bihar due to breaches in embankments downstream of the barrage. However, the current flood wascaused by breaches that developed in the embankment near Kusaha, located upstream in Nepal.

As per the agreement, India was to take care of the embankment lying in the territory of Nepal. Every year, the entire stretch is inspectedand repaired by June.

However, Bihar government officials alleged that the breaches could not be repaired this year since Nepalis did not allow the labourers towork on the embankment. The Kosi finally damaged the spurs and caused a 12.8-km lethal breach on Aug 18.

The river took an eastward course and gushed into Bihar. It inundated Supaul and then Araria, Saharsa, Madhepura, Purnea, Katihar andKhagaria districts in just a few days. It spread subsequently to nine other districts, including Bhagalpur, Samastipur and Muzaffarpur.

Locals believe that the river, having shifted around 120 km from east to west in a period of around 250 years, is now returning to its oldcourse.

Since a Bihar district has a population of 2.2 million on an average, there is little doubt that the Kosi flooding has affected nearly 15 millionpeople.

"The number is very high. There is no authentic data available. The loss is unprecedented and certainly calls for a lasting solution," thecentral government's Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told IANS.

Since a permanent solution involves diplomatic cooperation between India and Nepal, he did not see any reason for the Bihar governmentto fail in repairing the embankment.

"It was a criminal negligence, and needs to be probed. The responsibility has to be fixed," said the minister. The central government hasdeclared the Bihar floods a national calamity.

Mayawati, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, has also demanded active bilateral cooperation for building dams to check annual floods,

which inundate parts of that state as well.

She visited the flood-affected areas last Friday and told reporters in Patna that Nepal and India had an agreement in 1996 to build dams onthe Sharda, Ghagra and Rapti rivers but nothing had moved forward since then. Locals say floods of such magnitude were first seen in1954 and subsequently in 1963, 1971, 1984, 1987, 1991 and 1995.

"This is several times worse than the floods in 1991 and 1995," said Rajiv Ranjan, the former headman of Tatanpura village in Madhepura.With his village under water, he is currently staying at his house in Madhepura, which was hit by floods Aug 27.

With the Kosi having swept away agricultural land, livestock and houses, it will be difficult for the people of Bihar to get back on their feet. "Itis the end of a chapter. A new one has to be started from scratch. Nobody knows when and how," said Rajiv Ranjan.

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Drainage Crisis of Kosi