Drainage Crisis of Kosi

Abstract: Kosi is an
international river and all interventions must show utmost sensitivity
that does not bring a bad name to our country. The onus is the central
government to avoid a situation, which makes North Bihar a case study
for mismanagement of rivers. It has emerged from the field study
undertaken by a Fact Finding Team that a list of "what not to do in
Kosi basin" must be prepared before relying on the suggestions of
retired or serving officials. Why Kosi has been flowing at a level
higher than its adjoining mainland is a statement on the poverty of
common sense. The reduced cross-section of the river due to embankments
was expected to facilitate the dredging of its bed. Instead, the Kosi
offloaded silt into the river and raised the level of its bed. That the
Kosi is among one of the highest silt-laden rivers in the country makes
matters worse. Had the river been free to meander, it would have
deposited fertile silt, collected from the slopes of Mount Everest and
Kanchenjunga, across the plains of north Bihar. But that was not to be,
as most of the silt carried over the years lies trapped between river
banks, reducing the stream flow on the one hand and making the
embankments vulnerable to breach on the other. People of Kosi basin are
victims of development and the arrogance of governmental knowledge that
are used to scare common people into silence and submission by their
declarations such as "I Know the facts". All proponents of "solution"
must be made to solve the drainage crisis and adopt Ganga basin
approach before undertaking any further intervention.

Introduction
Kosi
is one of the major tributaries of Ganga synonymous with the history,
culture of not only Mithila but whole of the Indian sub-continent. One
cannot think of the Indian sub-continent without thinking about
Ramayana (Sita) and Mahabharata (Karna). Ramayana and Mahabharata
cannot be even imagined in the absence of Mithila.. The structural
solutions have already distorted the landscape of the Kosi-Mithila
region, structural solutions like Kosi High Dam would turn out to be a
monument of foolishness for generations to come. Like the villains of
embankment proposal, all the kosi high dam proponents must be
identified and dealt with by something like a Kosi Parliament.

Nearly
33.55 lakh people in five districts of north Bihar were affected by the
devastation caused by the Kosi deluge due to the breach in the
embankment at Kusaha in Nepal on August 18.

After Tamil Nadu,
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Bihar too is initiating the misplaced
project of linking rivers even as it is being predicted that "Ganga
would soon become a seasonal river-flooded in monsoons and dry in the
summers." Out of the 30 links in the controversial National
Interlinking of Rivers project that includes 14 links in the Himalayan
component, 6 river-link canals are directly related to Bihar. It is
noteworthy that quite like Tamil Nadu, Bihar too is proposing its
linking of rivers projects as independent of the national project.
Unmindful of the global ecological changes and river basin approach
Uttar Pradesh has already launched Ganga Expressway Project in 2007 to
construct a 1047 km access controlled eight-laned expressway running
along the Ganga river to provide connectivity and as a flood control
measure although the catastrophe brought about by such measures is
quite evident.

Continuing the same trend, Bijendra Prasad Yadav,
Bihar's Water Resources Development Minister informed the Bihar
Legislative Council on 4, December, 2008 that inter-linking of rivers
could rid the state of perennial problems of flood and drought.
Replying to a special debate on drought like situation prevailing in
many districts of south Bihar, Yadav said "unless and until rivers are
inter-linked the twin problems can not be solved." Yadav said the
inter-linking of Bihar rivers would cost more than Rs 4,000 crore.
Stating that 26 percent area of the state are drought-hit, Yadav
informed the Vidhan Parishad that the state did not have any reservoir
which was crucial for irrigation. It was either in Nepal or in Uttar
Pradesh. Replying to a debate on perennial problem of flood in the
state he referred to the devastation caused by the Kosi deluge and the
probe by judicial commission underway.

The Centre has
constituted a high level committee, consisting of three representatives
of the Centre, two from Nepal and five from Bihar government, for the
repair and maintenance of the embankment.

In the aftermath of
Kosi deluge, such ecologically disastrous engineering projects have
been dismissed as a "solution". Most recently, even 'development'
advocates like Suman K Bery, Director General of New Delhi-based
National Council of Applied Economic Research advised the governments
to forgo its mega public private partnership projects and concentrate
on strengthening the existing infrastructures in the light of the crash
of US and the European markets as a response to the upheavals in the
world economy.

Sterile Discourses
At a talk and a day
long Panel Discussion in Patna on "Kusaha Breach and Thereafter",
heated exchanges between pro-"Kosi high dam" engineers and proponents
of "living with floods" ended with an apparent conclusion that high
dams & embankments are less of an engineering interventions and
more of a political intervention. On 17 October, on the eve of two
months of the Kosi breach, the talk was delivered by Dr Dinesh Kumar
Mishra, a well known voice of sanity with regard to Kosi crisis.
Failure of dams as flood control structures has been demonstrated in
Orissa, Gujarat, Maharasthra and Jharkhand.

A white paper was
demanded, while sharing the Hindi version of the Fact Finding Report on
Kosi "Kosi "Pralay": Bhayaavah Aapada Abhi Baaki Hai" sought
accountability of Kosi High Level Committee (KHLC) and provide a remedy
for the drainage crisis in North Bihar as was promised by the UPA
government's Common Minimum Programme. All the activities of KHLC
should be put in suspension till the time their liability is fixed and
Justice Rajesh Balia Judicial Commission of inquiry set up on September
9, 2008 is completed. The commission's recommendations must not meet
the fate of several dozens of committees and it must recommend criminal
charges against acts of omission and commission.

It is
noteworthy that Union Water Resources Department Secretary, in a letter
to the Bihar Irrigation Secretary on September 24, 2008 has questioned
the locus standi of the judicial commission. The letter read: "The Kosi
agreement is a bilateral agreement between two sovereign states, India
and Nepal, and Bihar is not a party to either 1954 or the 1966
agreement. "Water and Power Consultation Services, a central
government's public sector undertaking has provided technical inputs to
the Bihar government on possible ways to plug the breach at Kusaha in
Nepal.

Participants included victims of embankments who
expressed their anguish at the Delhi, Kathmandu and Patna centric
deliberations and decision making. They called for a movement against
Kosi High Dam, embankments and changing the current course of Kosi.

Amid
news reports that Kosi's course will be restored by December 15 and the
breach would be plugged by March 31, 2009 citing Kosi Breach Closure
Advisory Technical Committee chairman Nilendu Sanyal and Ganga Flood
Control Commission chairman R C Jha on 14 October, 2008 to finalise
modalities on plugging the breach, some participants were opposed to
the repair of the breach in Kusaha. Government must hear the views of
these people before undertaking repair works.

Meanwhile, central
government has sanctioned Rs 40 crore for the project and Bihar Cabinet
has sanctioned Rs 197 crore. Bihar Water Resources Minister Bijendra
Yadav has said tenders for the breach closure have been invited and
bidding will take place after October 21.

Proposed "Sapta Kosi
Multi Purpose Project" claims to irrigate 68,450 hectares in Nepal and
provide remedy for drought-prone areas measuring 1,520,000 hectares in
India. It is claimed that alongwith irrigation and flood control, about
3,500 MW of electrical power would also be generated from water stored
in the 269-meter-high reservoir. According to a preliminary impact
study, the proposed high dam will displace 75,000 people from about 79
Village Development Committees (VDCs) in nine districts of Nepal alone.
About 111 settlements in the 79 VDCs, sprawling over the banks of the
Sun Kosi, Tamor, and Arun rivers, will be totally submerged, while 47
settlements will face partial submergence, and 138 will become
fractionally submerged.

Opinions available in public domain say,
"If the dam is going to cause such upheaval, can the crops produced
from the 68,450 hectares of irrigated land in Nepal compensate for this
huge loss?" argued the bimonthly magazine, Pro Public/Good Governance,
in its report. Estimated losses in the North Bihar are yet to be
ascertained. Earlier, the meeting of the Indo-Nepal Joint Committee on
Water Resources in Kathmandu on October 2, 2008 agreed to expedite work
on preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on Saptkosi High
Dam on the Kosi. Both sides reiterated their commitment to expediting
the work on preparation of the DPR of Saptkosi High Dam project during
the meeting which concluded on Wednesday in Kathmandu. Nepal assured
full administrative support and security to Indian engineers.

After
the breach, on August 18-19, 2008 Nepal government had said that Kosi
treaty is a "historic blunder" but Nepal government's inconsistent and
ambiguous position now on the Kosi High Dam proposal based on the same
treaty must be exposed in the Nepali parliament and media.

The Worst is Still to Come
In
order to save Kosi region from an ecological and human disaster, Nepali
and Indian legislators must take a categorical position based on a
referendum on Kosi.

On August 19, 2008, the chairman of the
Expert Committee on the Implementation of recommendations of Rashtriya
Barh Ayog, R Rangachari said, "It is my impression that not much has
been done to implement the suggestions made by the committee's report."
Rangachari was on the Prime Minister's Task Force on Flood Control in
2004.

The National Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the
Government of India made a solemn pledge to the people of the country
in 2004 to undertake "Long-pending schemes in specific states that have
national significance, like flood control and drainage in North Bihar."
Despite acknowledging the problem, it is shocking that neither the
Central nor Bihar Government conducts any survey to assess the effect
of flood control measures on the socio-economic conditions of society.

On
August 20, 2008, after the breach in the embankment at Kusaha in the
Kosi region, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal `Prachanda',
took stock of the post-calamity situation in the Kosi region and said
"Kosi agreement was a historic blunder. The people are suffering due to
this". The agreement had led to the construction of embankments and
proposals for a high dam.

Following an aerial survey of the
flood affected areas of Bihar, the Indian Prime Minister on August 28,
2008, termed the flood crisis as "a national calamity". More than four
years have passed since the Indian Prime Minister made the promise in
the CMP. Now, in August 2008 he declared, "A high-level team would be
set up to coordinate matters with the Government of Nepal." He also
promised protective structures and technical assistance to state
government to prevent further deterioration in the embankments. Such
dangling of carrots and
providing band-aid remedies are horribly insincere and it has been going on for
over 60 years.

Bihar's
floods in August 2008 caused the eighth breach in the embankments.
According to the Bihar Government's own reports, last year 48 lakh
people in 22 districts were in need of assistance due to floods.
Clearly, it is not the extent, but the unpredictable intensity of the
crisis that makes it a catastrophe. The primary function of floodwater
is to drain out excess water. It has not been allowed to perform its
functions due to engineering interventions.

Hundreds of reports
prepared by Commissions of all ilks are gathering dust. At most, they
become election campaign tools. The Commission should recommend fixing
charges of criminal neglect against the members of the Kosi High-Level
Committee, who waited for the calamity despite having information that
could have led to timely evacuation of the people.

The drainage
problem has failed to alter the policy regime of the country that
favours structural solutions regardless of the natural drainage it may
impede. Proposals like a high dam on the Kosi are as good as jumping
from the frying pan into the fire, if the experience with embankments
is anything to go by. Even when one chooses to ignore the changing
morphology of the river, the estimated lifespan of a dam and embankment
being 25 and 37 years respectively, underlines
the transitory nature
of the technocentric interventions. The Union Ministry of Water
Resources misled the Rajya Sabha on March 11, 2008 claiming,
"Government has taken various steps in the direction of water
management to stop the flood in north Bihar coming from the rivers of
Nepal." There has been no significant shift in the way the Kosi issue
was perceived in the 1950s and in 2008.

The issue of the Kosi
High Dam, first raised in 1948, has been sold to the victims as one of
the 'permanent' solutions to recurring floods. Ironically, embankments
as temporary solutions have become reasonably permanent whereas the
'permanent' solution has remained elusive. What is 'permanent' and how
permanent is 'permanence'? It must be acknowledged now that there is a
condemnable insincerity in proposing multi-purpose high dams for flood
control, because the dams are proposed to tap the hydropower potential.
Is it not clear that when the multipurpose — flood control, irrigation
and power — dam is talked about, the real motive of the proposal in
question is ignored? Clearly, political parties hold a stake in such
power projects that make them little concernend with the masses
struggling to remain afloat. A few days ago, Nepalese Prime Minister,
Prachanda, conveyed his affirmation for the hydel power project in a
meeting with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Conclusion
There
is a compelling logic behind seeking immediate review of the Indo-
Nepal Kosi Treaty that created the rationale for embankments and dams.
Continuing with it would amount to flogging a dead horse. The
congestion in North Bihar and Nepal is a problem of permanent
water-logging that has remained overlooked for several decades. Floods,
earthquakes, hurricanes or tsunamis cannot be controlled. But the
catastrophe they cause can be predicted, anticipated and
prevented.
Drainage of the river must remain sacrosanct, besides timely evacuation
of human and animal population and the establishment of robust public
health systems.

Given its distinct geo-morphological features
and complicated hydrological characters, the Kosi is one of the
Himalayan rivers that is yet to be understood in its entirety. It is
high time that policy makers gave up their outdated 'conquest over
nature' paradigm. We have to learn to live with the floods, only this
time, in far more readiness.

Ecological and futuristic vision
based state interventions must treat natural flow of rivers as
sacrosanct and natural habitats must not be tampered with, which we
must maintain if we want life to exist on Earth. Instead of a gigantic
dam, what is needed is a gigantic network of very small scale water
management schemes, including a vast network of small dams in Himalayas.

The author is a member of the Fact Finding Mission on Kosi.

Source: toxicswatch.blogspot.com



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