Flood in Bihar...ENOUGH!!

Bihar is going through worst man made disaster once again. May be this time in front of world’s 24x7 TV cameras and may be this time more deadly. A disaster is a disaster man made or natural and this is really of huge proportion so relief should be provided in full swing and we all should contribute in this someway. Either by sending cheques or by other means possible but remember one thing after the flood has receded if anybody ever talks of rebuilding levees or bringing the Koshi to old channel then it will be safe to assume that he wants the same catastrophe to happen all over again. AGAIN & AGAIN!!!!

Koshi is no ordinary river. It carries water from seven rivers. It also collects water from highest mountains such as Mount Everest. Now if Vijyendra Yadav thinks that he can tie up this river through his favoured contractor then he is insane. He still has to face the wrath of this year’s flood victims. High Dam is also a very bad idea. If Nitish Kumar could not save embankment in Kushha then how can he save high dam and God forbid when that will break then Nitish can only say ‘Maha-Maha Pralay’ ka chetawni hai sab Bihar chhod ke bhag jao.’

Multiple small dams in Nepal-I am not sure, MAY BE but not as a major to stop flood but only to generate electricity. I am not sure if Nepal will be giving that electricity to Bihar as already they are asking for compensation from India for this year’s collapse of barrage. So what is the solution? GO BACK TO FULL SYSTEM RESTORE BEFORE THE FIRST BARRAGE WAS BUILT!! ALLOW THE RIVER TO FLOW FREELY!!!! Yes there will be flood for few months but use it as opportunity rather than disaster. Let NREGA and voluntary sharmdan be unleashed in full swing to dig soil to raise the height of every residential area/village(‘deeh’) at Panchayat level in Koshi belt. In the process create as many ponds(‘pokhar’) as possible to catch the flood water for irrigation. Let Koshi choose its own Channel to say bye-bye to Bihar in mighty Ganges. I am not from Koshi or othet river belts in this part of Bihar but as far I have read before English built the first embankment to tame these rivers these belts they were among the richest places on planet earth but as of today you can look at the flood victims and judge yourself. Please…..please allow people to grow, save and build on their earning don’t allow it to be washed away year after year just like. No body wants to leave his birth place but just see the suffering of flood victims. For lakhs and lakhs of people their every interest in their birth place has been washed away in Koshi with just one barrage collapse. They have lost everything they had in Bihar. Now where they will go? Perhaps to Gujarat, Punjab, Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa etc. And then Nitish Kumar will say Biharis are not beggars, very true but politician have not left anything unturned to make sure that Biharis become beggars. If people know for sure that they live in flood prone area they will be prepared to face the challenge but today relying on false security millions of people are waiting for Nitish’s just 14000 food packets.

I am very sorry to sound cynical but somehow I believe that out of Rs 1000 Cr not even a single penny will reach to needy people. From IAS Babu to lower Babu will eat all this money and as it has become their regular annual income we will again hear about rebuilding the barrage and bringing the Koshi back to its old channel. Unfortunately after Shershah ‘Suri’ Bihar has only seen self serving crooks at the seat of governance but who knows after the tears have dried and Mother Koshi has shown the way through her anger their may be uprising, an uprising to take control of their lives in their own hand and say ‘ENOUGH’ or am I dreaming? Hope not. God save Bihar and give its sons and daughter enough strength to face this worst disaster.

The sentiments expressed appears tilted towards emotional side.
Yes , seeing the scale of human misery it is natural for a sensitive soul to get emotional.
However, there is no ready and full proof remedy for avoiding this kind of calamity caused by Kosi.
The prevailing orthodoxy of 1950,s regarding taming of the sorrow of Bihar-Kosi river ,was to make series of barrages at upstream and embankments on both sides on the down stream. There could issues related to efficacy of the then solution- need of regular and proper maintenace of the barrage and the embankments, the problem of heavy silting ( let it be rememberd that the river Kosi is one of the youngest river which has the longest and broadest alluvial fan , making it prone to frequent change of its course)
The technical issues related to barrage and embankments become grave in the context of socio- political - economic context of Bihar, which has seen malgovernance to no governance and the present phase of" Sushasan". The good intentions of the present government , even if conceded, is not enough to undo all that has been bad for so long in the state of Bihar.
Now with the disaster, what should be the long term strategy as far as the technical issues related to the taming of the Koshi is concerned.
Is it construction of series of dams in the catchment area of nepal, barrages and strengthning of the embankments?
To my mind , going back to , say to pre British days of managing or rather living with the annual fury of Kosi is no longer possible. The demography alone will not permit going back. Further more, we are not sure what was happening say in 17th century.Dfinitely the population base must have been 1/10 as of now. The vegetation cover in the catchment area of Kosi in middle and higher Himalyas must have been heavy. No deforestation. logically the silt carriage must have been rather less.
Need of the hour from long term planning perspective is to formulate a sound technical solution which is not prohibitivly heavy on the budget of the state/ country.
Let the experts draw on the accumulated world wide knowledge and wisdom in manging river water system.
of course the above observations are relevant from long term perspective . immediately let all of us contribute generously for relief and rescue operation.

Kaushal Kishore / Kharbhaia / Patna

Kaushal Ji, you are right I am emotional to see the suffering of Biharis. You say, “let the expert draw…..”. Sir, with all due respect, experts have been drawing their knowledge for last 61 years and Bihari IAS, Engineers and overseers have been filling their pockets while common Bihari mass have been suffering year after year. I am not talking about Patna but Madhepura, Arariya, Seharsa, Purnia and Supaul where in last 61 years,

Now look at 61 years old Lakho, carrying his 5 years old grand daughter on one shoulder and 3 years old grand son on other shoulder walking in neck deep water, all three of them are hungry for last 10 days, lost everything in flood, don’t know where to go? While Expert saheb will draw knowledge from world, IAS saheb, Engineer saheb and Overseer saheb are getting excited at the prospect of looting crores from the relief fund our poor Lakho’s main concern as of now is how to reach to some high land to safety and get some food for his grand son as he is crying continuously out of hunger. Nitish Kumar with all his good intentions sent 14000 thousand food packets but unfortunately it didn’t reached Lakho because Lakho is just one of 3.5 million marooned in the flood!

Emotions apart even today’s Times of India Editorial has expressed somehow similar views as mine. ( http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editorial/After_the_Deluge/articleshow/3429471.cms). If cities like Mumbai and Navi Mumbai can come up by filling sea where otherwise there should be sea water why it is not possible to build thousands of high residential blocks(deeh) in Koshi belt digging the same so called silt and nearby soil with help of Lakho. In this case at most his village will be surrounded by water for two to three months but he won’t have to walk in neck deep water for miles to high land.

This scheme does not seem feasible because command and control of flood will go to real stakeholder Lakho and IAS saheb, Engineer saheb and Overseer Saheb will loose the opportunity of annual income from flood relief.

All I am saying is that at Panchayat levels take a decision to raise the height of every village. Use the silt from river and dig soil from your fields. Plant trees on the slopes of your village. Sacrifice collectively once in order to save your earnings year after year. Make channels, ponds(pokhar), ahaars(temporary for water catchments but can be farmed in winter and summer months).

You see otherwise Lakho is very fortunate. He belongs to fortunate land where Khosi has decided to flow. Think of places where people are dieing without water. Yes Koshi changes its course and will change its course again but learn to coexist with nature. Don’t rely on expert as you are expert just dig low depth sallow channels to interconnect different channels. Idea of high dam and barrage are insane in this region where seat of governance is deeply corrupt.

Lakho please don’t rely on Bihar Government. Do it yourself. You and I know, you are on your own!! Bihar Sarkar High Dam Banyega…Oo bhi Nepal me ja ke baneyega-ganda majak hai ye. Abhi to Patna me ego nala banane me Nitish aita tod ke dekhaye ki Engineer saheb kaisan Bhaskal aita laga rahe the, High Dam me Nitish ko ketna aita tod ke dekhna hoga ee soch ke hi deh sihar jata hai. Jahan aaj ke adhunik duniya me Raja,Praja aur darbaar ka drama hota ho wahan kaun expert ka ketna chalega ye samajhna koi kathin nahin hai. Answer is very simple. Under such large scale catastrophe except dropping some food packets and saying ki parlay hai sab bhag jao, Nitish can’t do anything. Lakho and only Lakho can do something because he is stakeholder in all this. If at all Lakho reaches to high land safely I will appeal Nitish Kumar to talk to Lakho directly and ask him for solution without any bichauliya Bihari IAS officer, Engineers or overseers because they and only they have ruined any chance of prosperity for Lakho. As I said above these may be dreams but who knows jab Lakho nareta bhar pani me dub ke apne pota-poti ko kandhe par leke chal rahe hain to kabhi to Koshi ka pani kaan ko chhoo gaya hoga. Jo kaan ko chhooa hoga to kaan me kuchh bola bhi hoga. Lekin Kya? We will see!! As of now, folks please help Lakho to reach high land safely. Please donate to CM relief fund so that more food and relief fund can be sent to needy people.

Lekin Munnaji, smasya ka samadhan to hamen Bihar ki sarjamin par hi doondhna hoga. Maana ki sarkari tantra ke jimme iska mukkamal intejam nahin ho sakta. Bihar aur Koshi kshetra ki janata ki bhi ismen badi bhumika hoti hai aur honi chahiye.Par kya is samasya ka vibhinna staron par jo bhi samuchit hal hoga ya ho sakta hai usmen experts / engineers aur netaon/CM ki bhoomika nahin hogi ? Jab tak yeh Parliamentry democracy aur samvidhan hai tab tak to Bihar ka CM koi neta hi hoga. ACHHA DOCTOR, BURA DOCTOR, ACHHA KISAN BURA KISAN, ACHHA ENGINEER BURA ENGINEER,ISI TARAH ACHHA NETA AUR BURA NETA.
Is abhootpurv manviya trasadi ke shok men aur aapki ki wajib peeda aur kshobh men main bhi shamil hoon.
Par samadhan ke baare men bhi to hame saaf aur shant chitta hokar sochna hoga.
Flood mangement ke chhetra men maanawata dwara abtak sinchit samast gyan aur taknik ka sahara to lena hi hoga.Koshi, Bihar, Bharatvarsh ya puri Dunia men yah jahan kahin bhi uplabdh ho.
Jara itihaas ki taraf dekhene to yah pata chalega ki 1950 ke dashak me Koshi Pariyojan ke nirman men ek aham bhoomik shram daan ki bhi thi. Saare Bihar hi nahin ,balki Bharat bhar ke log usmen shamil hue the.Swaichhik shrmdan ke us jajbe ko aaj bhi main salam karta hoon.
lekin yeh duruh kaam sirf voluntary action se nahin ho sakta hai. Usmen sarkaar ki bhumika aniwary hai.
Kaisi sarkar, kaise neta , kaise engineer/ kaise administrator aur kaise karmchari -- is par bahas to ho sakti hai par iski jarrorrat rahegi.
saadar
Kaushal Kishore