Press Statement



Revisiting the flood plains of Bihar



A
Fact Finding Team comprising of ecologist, engineer, public health
researcher, social scientist, environmental scientist, and journalists
from different part of the country is visiting Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi
Balan and Baghmati river in Bihar and Nepal. The visit is scheduled
from 1st March-8th March, 2008.



Kosi is a transboundary river between Nepal and India and is one of the largest
tributaries of the Ganga.



The
team aims to study the human relation with the river, unprecedented
ecological rupture in the region, emergence of a canal colony and its
impact in terms of diverse costs incurred.



Historically, two
rivers in Asia, Huang Ho river in China and Kosi river in Bihar are
known as the rivers of sorrow. The rivers were named so because these
rivers have caused widespread human suffering in the past.



Coincidentally,
the Fact Finding Team’s visit assumes significance in the backdrop of
Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar having received the report of yet
another technical committee headed by Nilendu Sanyal on 22 February,
2008 in Patna. The committee was formed in the wake of the last floods,
which ravaged major parts of the state for suggesting measures to check
recurring flood in Bihar.



This trend of examining the problem
with committees after committees began in 1936 and repeated in 1954
without acting on its recommendations. Sanyal had already submitted a
report in 1988 in this regard that too is gathering dust.



Not
surprisingly, the committee and the government are once again looking
for technological solutions to the problem. The team would examine the
current situation in the light of 207 recommendations for improving the
flood situation given by Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Commission on
Floods).



The team would study how interfering with its flow
circuits has undermined natural drainage and examine the efficacy of
the solution to the problem of floods that is offered by the government
in the context of the ecological integrity of the rivers and a
dependent relationship between people and their rivers.



This
week long visit to Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi Balan and Baghmati river by
the fact finding team is significant since this river has moved
westwards by 160 km in the past 250 years and is crucial to
Interlinking of Rivers project. And of the Himalayan component, 6
river-link canals out of the 30 link canals in the Networking of Rivers
are directly related to Bihar. Two of these links are related to Kosi.




As per the National Water Development Agency’s plan, a Multi-Purpose
High Dam across river Kosi is proposed to be constructed near village,
Barahkshetra in Nepal. Besides the High Dam, a barrage across Kosi
river is also proposed below the Dam, to transfer water to Mechi river
through the Kosi-Mechi link canal.



The team would witness,
study the current status of the river, flood dependent agrarian regime,
flood vulnerability, flood control measures, the agents of change who
have attempted to comprehend whether the ecosystem of Kosi is healthy,
is developing towards a healthy condition or is it falling apart since
it has reached its carrying capacity. The findings of the team and its
composition would be shared with media in due course.



For details contact after 9th March:



Dr Dinesh Kumar Mishra, 0919431303360, E-mail: dineshkmishra@...

Dr Sudhirendar Sharma, 09868384744, E-mail: sudhirendar@...

Gopal Krishna, 09818089660, E-mail: krishnagreen@...









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