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BIHAR’S FLOOD FURY; THE END OF KOSI CIVILIZATION?

Om Prakash Yadav

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION OF KOSI- Like many other rivers of North Bihar, Kosi, i.e. the river of Milk, which is better known as the sorrow of Bihar, gathers water from Himalayas in Nepal. It is a Trans boundary river and flows between Nepal and India. Kosi is also one of the largest tributary of Ganga and after draining nearly 70,000 sq Km confluences into Ganga near Kursaila in Katihar district of Bihar.

In Nepal, this river lies to the west of Himalayan peak, the kanchanjangha and has seven major tributaries viz Sun Kosi, Tama Kosi, Dhudh Kosi, Indravati, Likhu, Arun and Tamar. That is why it is known as ‘Satpa Kosi’ in Nepal.

This river has earned notoriety since time immemorial due to its unruly, turbulent and unpredictable behaviour. On an average, it carries 70-80 million tons of silt every year and it is perhaps due to this feature, it tends to change its course after a definite period of time. This is also one of the most important differences between Himalayan Rivers and Rivers of Europe or America. Many experts are therefore, of the opinion that viability of high dams on any Himalayan River is very bleak, because the heavy siltation makes barrages useless after a period of time. Kosi has an average discharge of 55,000 cusecs of water and during rainy or flood season it increases as many as twenty times the normal and therefore, assumes dangerous proportions. The speed and velocity of current of this river is also very high, therefore the devastation it

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causes it often unthinkable. This river is not very old and experts say that it is not matured enough to settle a definite course.

MAPPING AND OLD COURSE- First attempt to map the meandering of this swift, fast and turbulent river was made by one British surveyor named C.C.English in 1779. According to district gazetteer of Saharsa, he tracked the course of Kosi since 1731. According to maps traced during those periods, Kosi, in 18 th

century used to flow near Purnea and in nearly three hundred years it moved west ward from Purnea to Supaul. On the basis of this inference, it is being said that the Kosi has come back to its 18 th

century course. Experts say that over 250 years, Kosi shifts over 120 Kms from east to west and now suddenly it has reversed the course exactly.

HISTORY OF FLOOD- Kosi and floods in Bihar have inseparable history. This river has brought as many as hundreds of floods in these areas. Some of the most devastating floods caused by this river, which the history of Bihar cannot forget, are of 1954, 1963, 1971, 1984,1987,1991,1995 and finally 2008. According to records available with the WRD, 8, 50,000 cusecs of water was discharged from the river during 1954 flood. This is under these unprecedented circumstances, the GOI thought to find a long lasting solution to this problem. In order to tame this mighty and uproarious river, the historic ‘Kosi Agreement’ was signed between India and Nepal on 25th April, 1954. Gulzari lal Nanda singed on behalf of GOI, whereas; Bir Shumeshwar on behalf of Kingdom of Nepal. It was agreed upon that a barrage will be constructed by GOI, which would be located about 8 miles upstream of Hanuman Nagar town. After this agreement, the Kosi barrage was constructed on a place called Bhimnagar and that is

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why it is also known as Bhimagar Kosi barrage. It took seven years (1956-63) to complete this barrage. According to terms and conditions, the repair and maintenance of the barrage were also to be done by Indian side. For this purpose, project area land was put on lease for 193 years by the govt of Nepal.

According to Article 13 of this agreement, the Indian Government shall carry out inside the project areas in the territory of Nepal such as the establishment and administration of schools, hospitals, tramways, provisions of water supply, electricity etc.

Article 14 says that the Govt of Nepal shall be responsible for maintenance of law and order in the project areas in territory of Nepal.

In order to tame the turbulence, jacketing of this river was done with construction of 39 kilometres long embankments from barrage site to Chatra in Nepal. This jacketing directed the flow of the river to the barrage and swift and fast Kosi was brought to control to a great extent. Spurs (a diagonal structure to check the speed of current and protect embankment) have been constructed along the eastward embankment so that erosion or breach in embankment can be protected.

BREACH IN EASTERN AFFLUX NEAR KUSAHA IN NEPAL- the Jacketing of this river upstream barrage has been proving disastrous because, yes, the direction of the flow could be guided and controlled but it could not check the heavy siltation. As this river carries heavy silt with it, in due course of time the bed of the river became above the field itself. In fact this has been the typical reason of flood every year in this area.

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All previous floods in Kosi occurred due to breach in embankments downstream the barrage, but this flood or catastrophe as many people call it, is caused due to breach in the embankment near Kusaha which is located upstream the barrage.

According to reports available with sections of media, the signs of breach in this east ward upstream embankment were perceptible in the very first week of August itself. The current started eroding and damaging the embankment between 12.10 and 12.90 Kilometres. The officials of WRD say that the law and order situation in Nepal has under gone a change and they were not getting required amount of co-operation from the Nepalese authorities. They justified their alleged inaction by saying that when the team of Engineers visited the site at Kusaha, they were not allowed to work and were forced to flee from the site. Gradually, the spurs near Kusaha also got damaged and finally breached on 18th August, 2008 at 12.80 km point. This site was about 12 kms away from the barrage, therefore within few hours waters flew into Indian Territory. The river was in full swing and surging water widened the breach up to 2 km of on the same date. Now, the water started flowing through the breach and situation became such that on 19th the Kosi barrage was almost empty. Although, the Engineers tried to lessen and control the discharge of water through the breach by opening 54 out of 56 sluice gates of the barrage, the current had taken a different direction and this attempt also proved unsuccessful. The roaring Kosi took east ward course from here and entered into Bihar through Birpur. Within hours, the water inundated Birpur, Belwa Bazar (Native village of ex. CM Dr. Jagarnath Mishra), Chatarpur, Pratapganj, Raghopur and Triveniganj of Supaul District. The surging water moved further east south ward and engulfed areas like Farbisganj and

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Narpatganj of Araria District. The direction of the flow was such, that its entry into Purnea district was easily forecasted. This was exactly the route; Kosi had been flowing in 18th century A.D. As the river found no natural course in east-south downward direction, it got divided into many branches and entered into different areas inundating and marooning them.

Within a week, the water inundated Narpatganj, Ghurna, Bela, Basmatia and Bhargama Blocks of Araria District, Pratapganj, Udhampur, Raghopur, Triveniganj and Chatarpur of Supaul district, some areas of Kisanganj district also got affected. District like Madhepura also came in the way of this river. Firstly Kumarkhand, Udakisanganj, Bihariganj, Alamnagar, Murliganj,purni, gwalpara, singheshwarsthan and sankerpur blocks of Madhepura got badly affected and people got trapped in the flood and on 27th August flood water entered the town Madhepura itself. Situation in these areas are fast deteriorating and conditions are becoming precarious. Official figure regarding death is only 50, but the number of deaths would be much more than what anybody would guess. It would not be surprising if the number of deaths would be in thousands. In Purnea district, blocks like Bikothi, Banmankhi, Rupauli, Dhamdaha and Amaur are either partially or totally affected by this catastrophe. While moving east west downward direction, areas like sonbarsha, sourbazar, Pataghat, Banganwan and simribakhtiarpur of Saharsha district also witnessed the fury of flood. The people lost lives, properties, homes and perhaps everything.

Kosi confluences into Ganga near Kursaila in Katihar district, therefore red alert have been sounded to evacuate areas like

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kursaila, Barari, korha. Water in these areas can enter any moment causing further destruction.

MAGNITUDE OF PROBLEM- the magnitude of problem is not difficult to understand. About 20 Blocks of 6 districts are badly affected. About 15 lakhs people are trapped in different places, and they are to be evacuated immediately, otherwise most of them would lose their lives. Even if all such persons are rescued, huge numbers of relief camps are required to be set up. The Total number of population affected is about 10.20 millions.

Rescuing the marooned population, providing relief and arranging rehabilitation is a herculean job, because almost entire infrastructure has been destroyed. The State government has neither the manpower nor the resources to meet this unprecedented situation. The question is, that where will these camps be set up for feeding 15 lakhs people. Carrying the entire population and shifting them to distant and safer places is very difficult, rather it seems impossible also. It is not an easy task to run relief camps on such a large scale and for a pretty long time, because this situation is likely to remain unaltered till October. Although, the PM and the Home Minister made aerial survey of the affected as and declared it as NATIONAL CALAMITY, rupees 1000 crore package has been announced, 1.25 lakh MT wheat would be given for running relief camps, the distribution of the relief on such large scale is a huge problem. The changed course of the river has swallowed millions of hectares of land and which are hardly going to resurface even after the water recedes. As a matter of fact, these inundated areas are technically in the river bed. Therefore, they have lost their lands, houses, livestock, ponds, wells and above all their dreams. The devastation of this magnitude is unheard in

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modern civilization. In fact the entire Kosi civilisation is on the verge of eclipse. Just imagine, how one crore people would be rehabilitated in one go. What would be the cost of this rehabilitation both in terms of money and time? Shifting such a huge population is not an easy task. Many experts say that it is possible to bring back Kosi to its original course, but bringing back history is not a joke. Think of the situation if it does not happen. What would be the fate of the erstwhile course? It would not be surprising if there would be sand dunes everywhere in the old course. The miseries are knocking the door. It is simply a catastrophe and nothing less than that. Bihar is going to witness a pre- 1963 like situation when Kosi belt was known for draught and famine. The pace of development of Bihar is going to come to a grinding halt. The wheel of growth is reversed. Many would agree that history is going to repeat itself. The irony is that the international community is sitting quite and making no gesture. The magnitude of devastation and destruction is such that no government will be able to tackle it single handedly. The job is enormous and response is very cool. This is the time to fight back; Bihar is looking for help from all corners, all agencies and many nations. The CM Nitish kr is struggling hard so are doing every denizens of this ill fated state. Let helping hands come out and take Bihar out of this National Calamity.

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