Playing Politics With Floods
Dinesh Kumar Mishra

There is lot of fuss made about the visit of Nitish Kumar to Mauritius when
Bihar was heading towards one of the major floods. But what if Nitish Kumar left
for Mauritius amidst rising threat of floods in the Bihar on the 26th July this
year and so what if he could go for an aerial survey of the flood affected area
only on the 3rd August after his return to Bihar? Flood water had entered Patna,
Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Motihari on the 25th July and it had not spared the
village of the Chief Minister either. Why this hue and cry then?
This is not without precedence. There was heavy rainfall in West Bengal, Orissa
and Assam along with Bihar and UP in 1968 resulting in huge loss to life and
property. This year is a landmark in the flood history of Bihar as the Kosi
observed the highest ever discharge of 9,13,000 cusecs, a record that is yet to
be bettered. This was also one of the worst floods in West Bengal. After
visiting some of the flood ravaged areas in Bihar and West Bengal, Dr. K. L.
Rao, then Minister of Irrigation at the Centre, left for the USA to attend a
seminar. H. N. Mukherji, MP, while talking about the insensitivity in official,
administrative and political circles, expressed his anger and frustration in the
Lok Sabha (18th November 1968) saying, ‘…. About the other levels, my hon.
friend, the Minister, Dr. K. L. Rao, an engineer himself, he left for the United
States, immediately after the deluge for attending a seminar. I am sorry to have
to say that knowledge acquired at this time of life is not going to be of much
assistance to the cause of my country.’ Dr K.L.Rao had gone on tour after the
deluge and was well aware of the situation. Nitish Kumar went before it and was
unaware of the events to come. That was the only difference. After all, how much
attention is given by the politicians to the problems faced by the common man?
During one of the worse floods in the recent memory in Bihar, in 1998, that
affected 13.47 million people (almost as much as in 2007 till date of 14.45
million) killing 380 persons (257 till 12th August in 2007 inclusive of boat
tragedies) spread over 28 districts; the ruling party in Bihar was busy
organizing the Ekjutata (Solidarity) Rally in Patna to fight communalism. This
could have very easily been postponed to a later date as there was no emergency
on the communal front. But strange are the ways of politicians. Writes Ranjit
Sinha (Deccan Herald-28th August 1998), ‘… Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav chose not to
visit flood hit areas because probably that would have shifted the focus to the
natural calamity which, in turn, could have resulted in lesser number of persons
turning out for the Patna Rally. Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav had appealed to the
‘brave’ people of Bihar not to get upset by these little inconveniences as the
country was faced with greater and more serious problems like communalism and
price-rise’. Lalu Prasad had also advised the flood victims to enjoy fishes that
had come with the floodwaters in 2004.
Things do not change at all despite chanting the ‘Preparedness Mantra’. In
Bihar, during the 2003 floods, army was deployed in Danapur sub-division of the
Patna district for relief and rescue operations. The state Government failed to
provide diesel for the army boats in time and the trucks carrying the food
packets to Danapur from Patna did their job leisurely and only half the supplies
could be reached to the take off points for the IAF helicopters. Helicopters add
glamour to the calamity and the flood victims are expected to forget their
miseries by seeing these flying objects. In the floods of 2004 in Bihar Lalu
Prasad had claimed that he had deployed 11 helicopters for airdropping of food
packets (one of these helicopters had crashed). He went a step ahead to claim
that never before in the history of Bihar so many helicopters were deployed for
such work. He was not aware that in the ‘real’ worst ever flood of the last
century, the records of which are yet to be touched if not bettered, occurred in
1987and the state had pressed 13 helicopters into service then. This year, in
2007, the things are no better either. The helicopters pressed into service
number four only and that too attended with frequent breakdowns.
The responsibility of providing relief in the wake of natural calamities
including floods primarily rests with the concerned State Governments. The
Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments where
necessary by providing logistic and financial support. For this purpose, the
State Governments are allocated Calamity Relief Fund (CRF), which is contributed
by Government of India and the State Government in the ratio of 3:1. Additional
assistance is also provided to the State Government in the event of a calamity
of severe nature from National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) after following
the laid down procedure.
As per the reports available from the State Government, a corpus fund of
Rs.108.97 Crores was available with the Government in the CRF with the State in
August 2003. Out of this money, only Rs. 19 Crores were released from the fund
for carrying out relief operations in the state till August. Yet, the Rabri Devi
Government in Bihar was flaying the Central Government for not helping the state
with the requisite money. Writes Anirban Guha Roy ( The Hindustan Times Patna,
13th September 2003), ‘…the State Government is yet to get the central
assistance of Rs.112 Crore allotted in 2002-03 under special package for relief
distribution in the flood affected districts. The Central Government has not
released the money as it has taken the stand that the State Government should
first spend the CRF money before it seeks the release of more central funds.’
Obviously, the state Government was not in a position to give the utilization
certificates for the funds given to it earlier and wants the flood victims to
believe that the Central Government is responsible for it. That was the time
when RJD was in power in Bihar and NDA was ruling in Delhi. The scene is
reversed now and the two Governments have exchanged positions. While Lalu Prasad
Yadav suggests that the state Government has not made any demands to the Centre,
it was at the initiative of the Centre that money for relief is sent to Bihar
even if the state has not submitted the accounts for expenditure of last year.
The NDA Government of Bihar says that whatever assistance comes from the Centre
is provided for under the regulations of the 12th Finance Commission and is not
at the mercy of any minister at the Centre. It also suggests that the state has
not yet received any money from the Centre.
It is customary to call any flood as the worst ever flood and there is nothing
denying the fact that only those who survive the deluge can take pride in
braving the calamity. Calamity, that is caused by the apathy of the Water
Resources Department of the state, indifference of the political system and
passing the buck between the governments at the Centre and the state. All the
formalities regarding the floods had been observed this year too. It started
with assurances by the state that all the works of repairs and maintenance the
embankments would be completed in time, cautioning engineers that that they will
be reprimanded in case of any failure of the embankments, bureaucrats alerted to
plug all the loopholes through which succor to the people leaks during the
floods, Disaster Management Departments taking all precautions to prepare the
people to face floods, cancellations of leaves of all the concerned officials,
public informed with the phone numbers of officers to be contacted in case of
emergencies etc but when the floods struck; all the measures taken collapsed
like a pack of cards, which again is an annual formality. The police too
performed its duty by killing one person each in Madhubani and Saharsa in flood
related skirmishes.
While the flood victims wish that the embankments along the Bihar Rivers have
more damage to the flood scenario than good and want to get rid them of them,
the state Government has plans of massive construction of embankments along the
rivers. It is already working on a Rs 792 Crores plan to embank the middle
portion of the Bagmati and had constructed some 10 kilometers length of the same
this summer. The entire newly constructed embankment was smashed into
smithereens in the very first rain in the Sitamarhi district. It has Rs. 845
Crores proposal to embank the Mahananda Tributaries and has fresh plans of Rs
3,000 Crores to jacket the other rivers in the state. Why there is so much of
enthusiasm within the state machinery when the people do not want these
structures. The reasons are not difficult to assess. Why the Government is not
taking up an evaluation of the performance of the embankments when the flood
prone area of the state has increased from 25 lakh hectares in 1952 to 68.8 lakh
hectares in 1994 (the year of last assessment). It has mostly constructed
embankments during this period along the Bihar rivers that measured 160
kilometers in 1952 and have gone up to 3440 kilometers in 2007 (this includes 10
kilometers that were constructed this year and subsequently washed away).A sum
of nearly Rs 1800 Crores was spent on such construction during the plan period.
There is widespread resentment over relief distribution, trading of charges
between various political outfits for inefficiency, dereliction of duties,
corruption, opportunism, and suggestions of approaching Nepal for facilitating
the construction of dams in the hills there. The carrots of these dams are
dangled before the people since independence and the Government at the state
level blames the centre for not taking right steps to enter into an agreement
with Nepal to facilitate the process. The irony is, almost all the political
parties have now ruled the country and the state and, many a times,
simultaneously. Why on earth they don’t resolve the Nepal issue once for ever,
if it is that important and that inevitable. Should it take 60 years not to
resolve any issue that is said to benefit all? Devegowda had time with him to
enter into an agreement with Bangladesh in 1996 when Lalu Prasad Yadav was the
Chief Minister of Bihar. Similarly Congress ruled Bihar and Delhi simultaneously
for about 30 years.
All these tussles are annual rituals and once the floods recede, everything will
be forgotten till next year when the issue will be highlighted during the month
of March when March Loot occupies the headlines.
The game goes on and on and most of the flood victims are left to fend for
themselves.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convenor-Barh Mukti Abhiyan
(Freedom From Floods Campaign)
6-B Rajiv Nagar , Patna 800024
Mob: +919431303360
E-mail: mishradk@...
14th August 2007





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