A STATE OF SELF INDUCED TRAGEDY

STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE
►Just ONE form/type of floods destroys north
Bihar persistently
►Floods is a NATURAL phenomenon
►Floods in north Bihar OCCUR due to Nepal
►People of north Bihar have got USED to the
recurring phenomenon
►State government has been GENUINELY
working to minimize the incidence of floods
►There are VARIOUS reasons for north
Bihar’s under-development
 Unlike earlier floods in 2008 the River itself
changed the path that too up-to several
kilometres.
 Its Magnitude- Too large compared to earlier
floods - more than 2.5 lakh houses destroyed
 Submerged Area- Much higher comparatively -
crops in 1.06 lakh hectare wiped off.
 Intensity of water forces- huge flow of water
through the breach went up to 1.9 lakh cubic
feet per second
 The worst affected districts: Supaul, Saharsa,
Madhepura, Araria, Purnia & Katihar
 866 villages destroyed - India Today
 Minimum Rs. 10,000 crore loss - India Today
 No. of persons directly affected- Much higher
 No. of deaths- cannot be assessed
 As per Sahara TV, who have special
correspondent in the affected area, it is feared that
even one lakh people might have lost their lives.
 More than 2000 camps are needed for the
displaced - India Today
 Present day – Intense; Frequent; Devastating;
Sorrow; Chaos; Scarcity; Loss; Destructive;
Opportunity
 Post-independence – Skepticism; Insecurity;
Displacement; Conflicts; Politicized; Enthusiasm;
Opportunity
 Historical times – Way of life; Prosperity; Self-
reliance; Harmony; Festivity
Taming of Rivers (Breach in the embankment, River Kamla Balan, Madhubani 2007)
 An EARTHEN WALL built along the river
which divides the landscape into two prominent
sections – riverside and countryside
 Purpose ‘was’ to PREVENT river water
spilling into the countryside and thereby
reducing its impact on human, livestock and
agriculture
 First public announcement on 6th April 1947 at
Nirmali in Supaul district on flood management
strategy…

– Dam on the Kosi at Barahkshetra in Nepal. Expected to

irrigate 1.25 million hectares of land. Produce
3,300 megawatts (MW) of electricity
– Embankments was referred to as the most
outdated technique to control floods
 The estimated cost of the proposed (1947) was
1,000 million INR, and project cost shot up to. 1,770
million INR by 1952
 The government preferred to emphasize on
excessive power generation as the reason for not
executing the project. Then the total power
generated in the country was 1,750 MW
►Heavy floods in north Bihar in 1953
►Project was eventually shelved due to the
cost factor
►Government was forced to take some
immediate steps to tackle floods on an
adhoc basis
On getting the political sanction of
constructing embankments, in May 1954, Rai
Bahadur Kanwar Sain, Chairperson, and Dr K
L Rao, Director, Central Water Power
Commission (now Central Water
Commission) were sent to China to study
River Hwang Ho
It was a strange approach, the decision of
constructing embankments had already been
taken and the experts were sent to primarily
 The embankments of famous Hwang Ho river in
China had breached on 1500 occasions,
changed its course 26 times and could not be
brought within the embankments 9 times
(recorded since 1047 – 1954)
 The embankments had breached 200 times
between 1855 - 1954
 In the floods of 1933, the embankments
breached in 50 points affecting 11,000 square
kilometres (sq km) and killing 18,000 people
 The British government had started to
embank Damodar River in 1854 to
safeguard the railway line between
Howrah and Raniganj

 Following the construction of the

embankment
 Natural tanks and lakes in the countryside started
dying an unnatural death
 Impacted on the fertility of the soil
 The British government was compelled to demolish
the 32 km long right embankment of the river

 The situation only became normal in 1863

 It does not pay to tamper with
the flow of the river carrying heavy
sediments
 Embankments along the river can result
in ‘a net loss’ in one single
incident of their breaching
 The CONTROL the flow of floodwater could
only be checked by reducing the area of its
spread and hence increasing its velocity

 Hence, the eroding capacity increases

proportionately, which erodes the banks and
dredges the bottom of the river

 This results in adding to the width and depth of

the river, thereby enhancing the discharge
capacity of the river
 No other alternative
 The benefits outweigh the costs
 Designed by EXPERTS
 Employment generation
 Example of forward thinking
 People raising issues were termed as misguided
and anti social elements
KOSI AT KUSAHA!
 The natural process of building delta and flood
plain gets thwarted
 Raising the water and river bed levels
(Embanking Kosi has led to an increase of 2
metres in the lower reaches within 30 years of its
construction) AND siltation
 Occurrence of natural floods have been replaced
by human made floods causing erosion of
productive land
 Excessive water logging – as per state
government’s report, approximately 0.8 million
hectares of land is waterlogged every year, 15
per cent of agricultural land is rendered
useless affecting livelihood of 6 million
people

76 per cent of the land in north Bihar

is flood affected and approximately 86 per
 1974 – 16.39 million people
affected
 1987 – 28.2 million population
devastated
 2004 – 21 million population
ravaged 2007 – 25 million
population plundered
Repair Breach Vicious cycle
that perpetuates
mismanagement
of public fiscal
resources
Contract
 FLOOD
POLITICIANS MISMANAGEMENT
BY THE
TRIPARTITE
NEXUS
CONTRATORS ENGINEERS
 In 1952, the state had 160
kilometres (kms) of
embankment and the flood
prone area was only 2.5 million
hectares (mh)

 In 2002, the embankment was

3,430 km and the flood prone
area of the state has extended
up to 6.88 mh
 Reckless construction of roads, and to an extent
railway lines without any proper drainage
facilities
 Inadequate sluice gates in the embankments to
channelize the flow of rainwater/tributaries into
the river
 CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

 North Bihar has a long history of flooding

 The eastern embankment of Kosi near Kusaha
in Nepal’s Sunsari district breached and this
was the cause of the flooding Since the Kosi
river flows from Nepal the fact that
embankments there were silted and breached
was just overlooked.
 Heavy loss had occurred in road network
 Major rivers, including the Ganga,
Punpun, Ghaghra, Burhigandak,
Bagmati, Kosi and Mahananda, were
flowing above the danger mark at
several places.
 The people affected by the breach of an
embankment cannot stay in their houses
so they end up living for long periods of
time in makeshift dwellings on the
embankment itself. Its a miserable
existence.
 Sufferings termed/projected, as way of life
 Compromised survival
 Total dependency on external support and aid
 Social development processes manipulated by
short term relief interventions
 Stunted interest in investing in long term
development commitments and engagements
Local solutions made irrelevant despite rich
wisdom
 Institutionalized patron client relationship
 Huge expenditure on health services
 Inaccessibility/unavailability of
government services
 Dwindling/unpredictable/limited/loss of
livelihood opportunities
 Rampant migration
 PRIORITY NEEDS

 Polythene- as there are so many people taking

shelter on embankments, rail tracks and
roadsides.
 Drinking water is a major problem for these
areas especially for those who are living on the
embankment and roads.
 Sanitation is a problem for women.
 Temporary shelter and family kits.
 Inadequate health care facilities are available
for the evacuees and some cares to be taken
for specific diseases like Kalajar ,Diarrheoa.
 All schools are closed and no educational
activities for last one month
 Cattle feed and veterinary camps / vaccination
Program in various places.
 RELIEF ARRIVING

 The International Federation of Red Cross and

Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is working to
coordinate the procurement and delivery of
10,000 tents to affected regions
 State govt. asked for Rs 6,000 millions at once
from the Centre.
 3 Army helicopters and military boats had been
engaged for Relief and Rescue. 29,397 food
packets have been airdropped and 154,744
packets by military boats and 1,918.15 quintals
of other materials have been air dropped
 7,112 boats been deployed; three helicopters
were used for air dropping. 19 Powerboat had
been sent to the affected districts and some
army boats had been deployed.
 Gratuitous Relief as Wheat distributed:
161,367.10 Qtls.
 Readymade food distributed: 7,446.94 Qtls
 Matchboxes: 151,458 [nos]
 Candles: 179,973 [nos]
 Polythene Sheets [distributed]: 3,790,49
metres.
 GOI approved Kosi Project in 1953, and the river
was embanked during 1955-60, paving way for
embanking all other major rivers
 The eastern embankment of Kosi - 125 kms
long, stretches from Birpur in Supaul to Kopadia
in Saharsa
 Western embankmement – 126 kms long,
stretches from Bhardah in Nepal to Ghongepur
in Saharsa
 Embankments were supposed to protect
214,000 ha of land from recurring floods
 The embankment has breached 8 times
 Barrage constructed near Birpur in 1963 to
facilitate irrigation of 712,000 hectars
through Eastern Kosi main cannal
 Another canal called the western Kosi
canal is yet to be completed. After
completion it is expected to irrigate
325,000 ha of agricultural land
 Approximately 380 villages spread over 13
blocks and 4 districts are trapped between
the embankments
GENERAL FACTS
OF
KOSI
 Catchment area of about 74,000 sq kms
 85 per cent is located in Tibet and Nepal
 Total length of 468 kms of which 248 kms
lies in the Indian territory
 Silt load of 9,495 hectare metres
 River has shifted westward in past 250
years by 112 kms
A Map Depiction :
A Satellite Captured Image :