The state of Bihar is once again under flood. According to sources, there is a chance of heavy rains in North Bihar. The water left from Nepal caused havoc in as many as 19 districts of Bihar including state capital Patna. The badly affected areas are Motihari, Begusarai, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Gopalganj & Champaran, Sheohar.
Flood has damaged crop lands, roads, bridges, dams and in some area even entered houses or submerged them. People are helpless with no food, shelters and very disappointing assistance from the Nitish government. The Minister of water resources Sanjay Kumar Jha said, the management teams are on high alert and all possible supports are reaching people.
Nitish Kumar who has been the CM of Bihar for 8-times in last 17 years. The government changes twice in a year but the situation of Bihar flood remains same. People have to face the havoc of floods, they lose their life, their hard-earned property, crops and lands, forced to live on roads, bridges or somehow in those current water flowing areas. They are left on their own with no food, shelters, medical assistance and other essentials. This is shame for politicians who couldn’t find a permanent solution of it even after 75 years of independence.
Experts say, one year cost of damage in Bihar due to flood and the amount for damage control if applied truly can solve the floods problem. The politicians don’t want to find a permanent solution, as the flood is a vote bank for them. They promise to solve it but forget once win the election. They are wasting money in construction of embankments even after they know it as a measure cause of flood.
Because of selfish and dirty politics in Bihar, it remains the most flood prone state of India. The central government even doesn’t look interested in a permanent solution, be it BJP or Congress, except that they provide relief funds and make promises during elections. In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a â‚ą500 crore central assistance and ex gratia of â‚ą2 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased family.
The floods in Bihar causes many diseases like Cholera, Diarrhoea, Jaundice, Typhoid, Dengue as people don’t get fresh water to drink or use. All fertile soil gets shrouded with sediments leading to less yielding in agriculture sector. Poor farmers loss their crop fields under water. In a line they lose their ‘fundamental right to life‘, but who cares.
Bihar is India’s most flood-prone state, with 76% of population in North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. Bihar makes up 16.5% of India’s flood affected area and 22 1% of India’s flood affected population. North Bihar districts are vulnerable to at least five major flood causing rivers during monsoon – Mahananda, Koshi, Bagmati, Burhi Gandak & Gandak River – which originate in Nepal. Some South Bihar districts have also become vulnerable to floods from Son, Punpun and Phalgu Rivers.
These rivers from Nepal carry high discharge and high sediment load and drops it down in plains of Bihar. About 65% of catchments area of these rivers falls in Nepal/Tibet and only 35% lies in Bihar. The major causes of floods in Bihar are the increased conversion of forests to agricultural and pastoral land in the middle of the hills in Nepal and increase in annual rainfall in the annual run-off of Sapt-Kosi river.
In 1954, when the Bihar Flood Policy was first introduced, Bihar has approximately 160km of embankments. At that time, the flood-prone areas in the state was only 2.5 million hectares. Upon the completion of the system of embankments, 3465 km, was constructed and administered by the Water Resources Department (WRD). However, the amount of flood-prone land increased to 6.89 million hectares in 2004. In 2016, the affected area increased to 7.265 million hectares with construction of 3731 km of embankments. Due to embankments, rivers are getting shallow, as sediments can’t move, which cease the flow of water leading to floods in Bihar. Report says, 16% land mass of North Bihar is subjected to permanent water logging.
The Centre and State governments should come together to find a permanent solution for Bihar flood. By constructing dams and reservoirs to reduce river flow, afforestation to reduce run-off from a river catchment and channels to improve flow of river water.
image credits: GroundXero
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