Flood Dispatch-2
Patna Dated 31st March 2005.

The state has succeeded in getting its budget ratifies by the centre and the process of tendering is nearing completion. Most of the repairs should have been completed by now and the time is really short for the repair works to be carried out and the people are apprehending huge flood losses in the ensuing flood season.

There are also the reports that the water level has gone down badly in the hand pumps and the people are leaving their villages in search of water. Those living in towns are getting water far short of their needs. South Bihar districts adjoining Jharkhand are bearing the brunt of the water shortages this year in the month of March.

There is no popular government in the state and those who are supposed to take oath to serve the people of Bihar are still busy grouping themselves. Reports appearing in the press suggest that the people are happy that they are not being ‘served’ by their masters. Bihar is going the UP way where the political scene is torn between three parties SP, BSP and BJP. Lalu Ji is reported to have said that he is coming back after the ‘tiffin time’ is over. He might as well do that.

It reminds me of 1965 when Dr Ram Subhag Singh was the Railway Minister at the centre and the Kamla embankments breached at many places because of non-completion of the construction of the railway bridge at Jhanjharpur and the narrow passage of water provided through that bridge. The duet between Dr Ram Subhag Singh and Mahesh Prasad Singh (then Irrigation Minister of Bihar), both belonging to the same party and both from Bihar, was really memorable. While the people suffered immense damages, the trading of charges between the two holding each other responsible for the deluge, entertained others.  It seems, after a lapse of forty years, Bihar is heading for the repeat performance of 1965.


Dinesh Mishra