We feel sorry for the people of Mumbai and most part of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and now Karnataka, who have suffered the onslaughts of floods and drainage congestion recently. Who else would understand the plight of the Mumbaikars and Mahrashtrians and those from Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh better than us, the people of North Bihar, who so very well understand what flooding or drainage congestion means. What happened in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra this year, happens every year in our part of the country.

Mumbai is a narrow strip of land protruding into the ocean implying it has drainage outlets all along its coast into the Arabian Sea and there is no reason why the rainwater should not reach the sea, without causing any havoc, unless it is physically prevented from doing so. A rough sea, however, would retard the process of drainage but will not prevent it altogether. This seems to have happened. Clogged drains, undersized drains, no drains, encroachments, official apathy etc may be some of the reasons for the catastrophe. It is about the time that the people force the authorities to ensure that such incidents are never repeated in future keeping in mind that nature keeps on improving its records of flooding, rainfall and droughts. 

We, in Bihar, are particularly concerned by the collapse of official machinery in dealing with floods and drainage congestion in Mumbai because this single 100 years occurring will give a tool in the hands of officials and politicians to defend themselves and they would cite the Mumbai example for a long time to come. When such things can happen in one of the best governed states and financial capital of the country, why blame Bihar?

A word about situation in Bihar would be relevant here. The state is reeling under a spell of drought this year. There was some flooding in the Bagmati and the Mahananda basin in early July and then on there are only clouds and little rains. Newspaper reports suggest that only 36 per cent of transplantation of paddy has taken place till 3rd August whereas it should have been 100 per cent by now. I had traveled recently to chronically flooded districts of north Bihar like Muzaffarpur, Saran, Vaishali, Saharsa, Supaul, Khagaria and Begusarai on the dusty roads in the last week of July. Jute crop is still standing in the fields and unless the ponds or depressions are filled with water, it will not be possible for the farmers to harvest Paat (Jute) and put it in ponds for retting. And unless the fields are cleared of Paat , paddy transplantation cannot be done. Those farmers who own or can afford Diesel Pumps (@ Rs 75 per hour ) are transplanting paddy and those who cannot, are still looking towards the sky. This despite the Gandak and the Kosi canals and various State Tube-Wells and other minor irrigation works.

Most people in the nation feel that Bihar is Water Surplus state, thanks to official propaganda but can we do something to bring Gujarat or Maharashtra water to Bihar in case of such emergency and such availability. A similar situation had occurred, in 1987, when almost entire country was reeling under an unprecedented drought, and Bihar was facing the worst ever flood of the 20th century. Gujarat is slowly becoming a state to face floods on a regular basis. When it comes to linking Bihar rivers to the Sabarmati, in Gujarat, to combat the shortages there, it should also be possible to bring water from Gujarat to Bihar. All that we may have to do is to have canals with adjustable and / or reversible bed slopes and this should be possible with the excellent technical expertise available in our country that can turn improbability into reality. Else, we can have parallel sets of canals flowing in opposite directions in our interlinking scheme and, thus, let it work both ways. That will take care of all conceivable problems regarding irrigational water and floods within the country, I presume.

Also, a couple of months ago, there was a meeting in Darbhanga, chaired by the Commissioner there to discuss the flood preparedness plan. I suggested that the meeting should start by paying tributes to 274 persons who had lost their lives in Darbhanga Commissionary alone, in the floods of 2004. I was told that, as a customary, meetings are adjourned after making obituary references and hence a condolence resolution cannot be passed before the meeting. Those present insisted that a two minutes silence must be observed at the end of the meeting and that was done. Can we do this in all the meetings that we hold this year to remind our ‘Maaliks’ that these lives could have been saved if only they had exercised caution and listened to the people or the committees that they themselves had constituted from time to time.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra
Convenor- Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Camp- Patna
4th August 2005.