The Kamla River and People On Collision Course

1. The Kamla River

2. Geographical Features of the Kamla

3. Different Courses of the Kamla

3.1. The Bachhraja Dhar

3.2 The Pat Ghat Kamla

3.3 The Sakri Kamla

3.4 The Jiwachh Kamla

4. The Floods of the Kamla

5. Irrigation Problem in the Kamla Basin

The interesting fact was that the Government had -set aside Rs.71, 000/- for relief operations in Darbhanga, in 1901-02. to meet any scarcity. But just as everything was near normal in the Raj, the relief operations had not to be taken up. The Irrigation Commission (1903) writes that, ...had this money been expended in the way which we Fcue advocated and with the same happy results as have been attained by Mr. King irrigation might have been provided for between 61,000 and 80,000 hectares of winter rice. King was very ably supported by his colleague Sealy, in his venture.

The First Irrigation Commission, while lauding the efforts of King lamented that such kind of works cannot be taken up by the Public Works Department (irrigation was the responsibility of the PWD those days-Author). It felt that the manager of private estates had a much freer hand in undertaking measures for the benefit of his tenants than can be given by the PWD. If the Government had to build canals, it would be expected to pay a high compensation for all the land occupied, provide crossings at all the village roads and to incur charges and liabilities which were really prohibitive in case of works required to meet temporary emergencies. Above all, a direct return of some kind was expected on the outlay, which involved the introduction of a scale of charges, and consequent inquisitorial measures, which were certain to be unpopular, and costly.

King only performed the duty of a responsible engineer but did not work wonders. Madhubani is interspersed with various small and big streams and there has been a rich tradition of irrigation with the help of these dhars, as they are called locally. King achieved results by combining the experience of the farmers about the direction and the magnitude of the flows, his technical competence and devotion to the profession and the resources of the Darbhanga Raj. Until recently, the farmers of Depura village, near Benipatti, used to intercept the waters of the Bachhraja and divert it to Benipatti chaur (Land depression formed, generally, because of shifting of the river bed) through the Hajma Nalla that passed through the villages of Depura. Nadaut and Muhammadpur. From the Benipatti Chaur, the water used to be tapped for Rabi irrigation by the villagers of Depura, Nadaut, Muhammadpur, Bhatahiser, Benipatti, Pauam, Birauli, Adhwari and Salaha. This was the traditional source of water and the traditional technology for irrigation in these villages. Within Benipatti, a nalla takes off from the eastern bank of the Bachhraja dhar, north of Chamma Tol. Its waters fall into the Navaki Pokhara (Benipatti) and re-emerges through Dhobghat Pulia. This nalla irrigates the fields in Baraha, Kataiya, Bankatta, Damodarpur and Ballia. Similarly, the nallah that emerges from the west bank of the Bachhraja Dhar joins the Sansar Pokhara. This feeds another nallah that passes through Sarisab, Benipatti, Behta, Jagat and Jagat Araji and finally falls in the Soilee Dhar irrigating all the fields on its way.

The residents of the Partapur village, near Jhanjharpur, had befriended the Bolan River and tap its waters for round the year irrigation. This is detailed elsewhere. The entire area of Madhubani district has some story of irrigation or the other, which no engineer. other than King, ever bothered to understand or examinees.

Upon the recommendation of the First Irrigation Commission, an irrigation scheme designed by Sibold was proposed for implementation, in 1906.The idea was to renovate the canals that King had made in 1901. According to Darbhanga Gazetteer (1964), a scheme to irrigate 12,000 hectares of land was prepared in 1901 at an estimated cost of Rs. 50,000/-. This scheme, too, did not work. There seems to be some confusion here because the Commission had praised the efforts of King and King himself, in the interview given to the Commission, had said that he had successfully irrigated 18,210 hectares of land. This canal unfortunately did not function well and was abandoned. Renovating the same canal with which King had irrigated 18,210 hectares of land should, normally, not have failed.

However, there was complete silence over the issue of irrigation from the Kamla till 1950. This year, an attempt was made by resurrect King Canal by cutting it in a width of 3 meters but the canals got heavily sand cast. The Bachhraja Dhar had no regular source of supply of water and hence after the rainy season was over, the Dhar as well as the canal got dried up.

In 1951, as a relief measure, the Bachhraja Dhar was re-sectioned once again. Jawahar Lal Nehru had laid the foundation of this work in the Narkatia village. The farmers in this village still fondly remember the visit of Nehru and that of Indira Gandhi. A good coverage of irrigation was achieved in the Kharif season this year but, in the Rabi season, the irrigated area was limited to 900 hectares. In 1954, a fresh-scheme to irrigate 15,150 hectares of land in the basin was proposed. The problem was that the channel of the river at Jainagar, where the headwork was proposed, was not stable. Being located closer to the foothill, this place was a storehouse of sand and silt and the river used to change its course because of this sediment load. The changing course of the river would desert the head-work every year and a new pilot channel would have to be dug to feed the canal.. Sometimes, the rainwater gushing from Nepal used to destroy the canals. Then, the arrangements to protect the canals from the attack of water coming from upstream had to be taken up and head-works had to be constructed. The irrigation, however, never improved. Against the expected irrigation of 15,150 hectares, the actual achievement in 1959-60, 1960-61, and 1961-62 was only 460 hectares, 600 hectares and 875 hectares respectively. There was a proposal to construct a weir on the Kamla at Jainagar to regulate the flow of the river and the construction of this weir had started in 1959 and it was hoped that there would be no problem after this weir becomes functional.

This scheme started providing irrigation in 1964.

6. The Kamla Irrigation Scheme

“... in our hunch for the flood control and some irrigation, we constructed embankments on either side of the river and put a weir across the Kamla at Jay Nagar. These embankments were to be extended to Mirchaiya, in Nepal, in accordance with the Indo-Nepal agreement. But we did not do that. That resulted in enhanced floods in many villages in Nepal and they faced submergence. The water flowing southward spreads outside the embankments and causes breaches in the Kamla Canals. Fed up with the delays in the construction of the embankments up to Mirchaiya and our silence over the construction of the ChisaPani Multi-purpose Dam on the Kamla, Nepal has constructed a barrage at Godar near Bandigram, north of the Mahendra National Highway some 30 kilometers north of our Jay Nagar barrage. They have taken out canals from both the ends of this barrage. The flow in both these canals put together is of the order of 1000 cusecs (nearly 30 cumecs) and they are unable to irrigate the main portions in the command but that is sufficient to totally paralyze the Kamla Canal System in India. Just as the Jay Nagar barrage is constructed on the plain lands, the Godar barrage is also constructed on the plain lands and cannot tolerate the onslaughts of floods. Thus, there is no reduction in floods on either side of the border.”

A proposal to modernize these canals is pending for a long time with the Government but no action is being taken over it and the canals are loosing their utility day by day. There has been some stray digging of the canal in certain reaches in the past 2-3 years. The Eastern Kamla Canal was designed for irrigating 3,691 hectares in Kharif and 1053 hectares in the Rabi season. The Western Kamla Canal, including Kings Canal, was supposed to irrigate 24,253 hectares in Kharif and 6,930 hectares in the Rabi season. Thus, the total irrigation from these canals was 27,944 hectares in Kharif and 7983 hectares in the Rabi season.

A cursory look at the table suggests that there is no consistency in the irrigation figures from the canals. It may be rated satisfactory in some years but, in some years, their performance becomes questionable. There has been some improvement in irrigation figures in past two years and that may be attributed to some re-sectioning of the canal in certain reaches. The irrigation figures from the Kamla Canals do not evoke confidence among the farmers of the region and no farmer bases his agriculture depending on the Kamla Canals.

Comptroller General of Accounts (Civil), in his report of 1977-78 has commented on the performance of the Kamla Irrigation Scheme. It says, ....The Kamla waters carry a lot of sediments in the flow during the floods which results in the blocking of the channels leading to the canal head-works. As the demand increases, the supply is impeded. To meet this problem, a weir was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 64.09 lakhs in March 1964. In the month of July 1964, another scheme was launched by the Government in the name of the Kamla Irrigation Scheme at an estimated cost of Rs. 57.53 lakhs, (Rs. 46.98 lakhs for the western and Rs. 10.55 lakhs for the eastern canal system) so as to make use of the diverted water from the weir. These estimates were revised to Rs. 147.79 lakhs in July 1970 and Rs. 335.22 lakhs in September 1976. There was no provision for making the village channels in this budget and the farmers could not build them because the availability of water was uncertain. They also did not have the expertise to construct these channels. However, the canals were completed in 1968-69 but the village channels were not. Till 1978, only the budget estimates were being prepared for the village channels.

Not only the availability of water was uncertain in Kamla Canals, they have created other problems also in the region. The western canal travels in the easterly direction, from Jainagar to Umgaon, but the land slopes from north to south and the canal acts as an earthen dam for the rainwater coming from north. This water stagnates on the northern face of the canal. This damages the crops north of the canal in the villages like Lahernia, Mahadeo Patti and Kasera where it remains for up to a fortnight. The canal virtually has no use for these villages. The matter does not end with the main canal alone. The distributaries have their own share in worsening the situation. One such incident took place in the Bituhar village of Harlakhi block of the Madhubani district where severe water logging took place because of the Jiraul distributary. The farmers of these villages did not take things for granted and took the matter up to the Requisition Committee of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha.

It so happened that this distributary of the Kamla Canal was to pass through the eastern side of the Bituhar village. But, in that case, it would pass through the land of the mahant of the Pachahari Math. The executive engineer of the Kamla Canal was under the influence of the spiritual head of the Math and he got the alignment of the canal changed to the western side of the village. The farmers protested and gave many petitions to restore the alignment of the distributary but these requests had to be made to the same executive engineer who was already influenced to disregard them. The distributary was constructed and water logging followed. A farmer from the village, Devendra Singh, along with 51 other farmers lodged a protest with the Vidhan Sabha for the redressal of their problem. Vidhan Sabha constituted a committee to look into the matter and the report of the committee was published in 1981.

The committee report says, ... The crops of the poor farmers are destroyed year by year due to water logging. The houses of the poor Harijans, too, collapsed in large numbers each year.... The Irrigation Department should compensate for the losses incurred by the people. The Committee contacted the Relief Commissioner if he could help the farmers in the matter who opined that if the losses were incurred because of the mistakes of the Irrigation Department, the compensation must also come from them. The Relief Department comes forward to help people only in case of natural calamities. The rent for the land can be waved off in case of the waterlogged land only till such time that there is water on the land. Even this can be done only at the recommendation of the Collector of the district, he maintained.

The Committee wrote further that, … Those, whose land is acquired for the purpose of constructing the canal do not get water, their land gets waterlogged for technical reasons, their houses collapse and the Government watches all these events helplessly. What sort of justice is this? The department must look at the problem from a humanitarian angle. It is a well-known fact that the guilty should be punished and not the innocent The sole reason for water logging is the construction of the canal.

The fact is that a large chunk of land is waterlogged in the Kamla Project because of the embankments and the canals. The Government has submerged the land but, not to talk of any compensation, the process of providing land remissions is so complicated that it is impossible to get any relief on that count. Despite the recommendation of the Committee of the Vidhan Sabha in this case, no action was taken. Bituhar is just an exam-ple but there are so many villages, from Jainagar to Arerh in the Kamla Basin that suffer from waterlogging, sand casting, breaches in the canals and non-availability of water with nobody to look after the peoples interests.

7. Revenue Collection in the Kamla Canals

“...the tax is extorted illegally from 90 percent farmers on the plea that they should deposit it now and it will be returned later. When the farmers claim the reimbursement; their requests are not heard ...The Karmacharis of the department also demand money illegally...Those who do not own land in the village, also get the notice for making payment. If the crop is destroyed following a breach in the canal, still, the notices are served. The Karmacharis of the department draw a map of the irrigated area sitting at home without verifying whether the land that they have marked as irrigated is a house or a threshing ground. The payments are sought from all.”

Such charges are being leveled against the revenue staff right from the beginning of irrigation in the area. Irrigation from the Kamla Canal started on a very modest scale in 1964-65 but when it came to the billing for the irrigation charges, the farmers of as distant places as BeniPatti got the notices while the water was not released into those canals. They were ill treated by the staff of the department and their bullocks were confiscated by the revenue staff, besides threatening them of dire consequences. Nothing has changed in the Kamla Project since then.

8. The Kanila Flood Protection Scheme

Sometimes, for topographical or political reason, embankments are built only on one side of the river. Everything remains the same in this case too, except that the floodwater is now free to flow on the side opposite of the embankment. Seeking flood protection through embankments is walking into a trap where every action leads to a new and costly measure and the problem goes on deteriorating with time.

A section of engineers, however, believe that when a river is embanked, the waterway available in the river narrows and which results in the increased velocity in the rivers flow. With the rise in the velocity of rivers water, the eroding capacity of the river increases. When the flood-water erodes the banks and the bottom of the river, its width and depth would increase and so will be its discharge carrying capacity. Thus, the river is re-sectioned and it will carry more discharge, causing the floods to decline.

The debate whether the embankments add to or reduce the flood problem is still inconclusive in the technical circles. We have such a strong case against the embankments, if we do not want to build them. At the same time, the argument in favour of the embankments is equally sound and scientific.

Thus, the arguments, for and against the embankments, both, are highly technical and equally compulsive that no body can find any fault with either of them. The decision, whether to build embankments or not, however, is mostly taken by politicians and, for obvious reasons, the engineers are made to defend them. The engineers, irrespective of their stature, are so amenable to the politicians influence that the politicians use them at their will and get the things done the way they like. These inferences are not without foundation.

Thus, whatever happened in the field of flood control was after 1954 and a scheme to embank the Kamla was proposed after the embankments on the Kosi were sanctioned. According to the original scheme, embanking of the Kamla was proposed, in 1956, from Chisapani, in Nepal, to Darjia in Madhubani, over a distance of 149.6 kilometers. The distance of Darjia from the Nepal border is 101.6 kilometers. The scheme was estimated to cost Rs. 4.04 Crores and was expected to protect 1.92 lakh hectares of land from the floods of the Kamla.

The construction of these embankments, from Jainagar to Jhanjharpur was started in 1956 and completed in 1960. They were extended up to Darjia in 1962. In the third phase, the embankments were further extended up to Kothram in 1982-84.

What followed the embankments on the Kosi is recorded elsewhere and we will not go into those details here. We will take a stock of the situation in the Kamla basin in this section. There is a striking resemblance between the Kosi and the Kamla embankments to that of a blacksmith and the goldsmith. The impact of the sledgehammer of the blacksmith is heard and felt even at far distant places but the goldsmith has a miniature hammer and one has to concentrate to hear this sound. The Kosi’s hammer strikes at long intervals and all concerned people feel the impact of it but in the case of Kamla, the strokes are relatively mild but many. The Kamla embankment breaches wholesale and without any gap ever since it was constructed. The river tries to break its shackles frequently in search of freedom. It is a small river as compared to the Kosi and those living on the banks of this- embanked river, often cut the embankments to drain the water stagnating outside the embankments. This is also done with a hope that the river water will spread all over the land and revive its fertility. Because of the construction of the embankments on either side of the riverbanks, the riverbed has gone up considerably and the adjoining areas, as a result, have gone below the level of the river in the same proportion. With the breach in the embankment, whether deliberate or otherwise, the lower lying land gets filled up with sediments emerging out from the gap and water logging, at least, at the local level comes to an end. Breaching of the embankments by the local people is possible only on smaller rivers as the effects of tampering with a river like the Kosi or the Gandak may prove to be too devastating and worse unpredictable.

However, it should not be construed, in any way, that the floods in the Kamla basins are less devastating than that of the Kosi. If two trains, say, a Rajdhani Express and a passenger train meet with an accident simultaneously, then the Rajdhani Express gets more publicity and importance than that of the passenger train. Similar is the difference between the failure of the embankments of these two rivers.

The first phase of the Kamla embankments was the construction of the embankments from Jainagar to the Jhanjharpur railway bridge and this was completed in 1960. Before these embankments could be completed, the second phase of the project was announced that the embankments would be extended further up to Darjia, 21 kilometers further south of the rail bridge. The local leaders and the population were convinced that the river water used to converge at the rail bridge of Jhanjharpur and then emerge out of the bridge like an arrow hitting directly a population of about 150,000 of the blocks of Jhanjharpur, Madhepur, Ghanshyampur. Biraul, and Kusheshwar Asthan. This water was not only destroying the crops of the area, it was also destroying houses in large numbers and some steps should be taken to ease the situation. The state Government also held similar views but it had to wait for the recommendations of a High Level Committee report. This committee comprised of the Chief Engineers of the Kosi Project, the Irrigation Department of Bihar, the Central PWD and the North East Railway besides many others. Central Water and Power Commission also wanted that integrated and comprehensive plans should be made for the lower areas, which should also incorporate the possible impact of the Kosi and the Bagmati and if it meant delays, then they were unavoidable.

The problem with the Kamla-Balan embankments was that the original stream was that of the Balan, which the Kamla joined later, in 1954. It was beyond the capacity of the Balan to accommodate the additional flow of the Kamla in its waterway. Also, the bridge on the Sakri-Jhanjharpur rail line, close to Jhanjharpur, was designed keeping in view of the flow in the Balan and was only 37 meters long. Even this bridge was incapable of accommodating the flow of the combined stream. After completion of the Jainagar-Jhanjharpur embankment on the Kamla-Balan, it was realized that the waterway was grossly undersized and a mistake had been committed. The floodwaters used to emerge from this bridge like a bullet and hit the villages located south of it. Later, without increasing the waterway through this bridge, the Kamla-Balan embankment was extended up to Darjia. The Government of Bihar, at its own expenses, widened this bridge to 107 meters but this widening was only temporary as the Railways had proposed a width of 146 meters for the bridge. It had also raised the Lohna Road-Jhanjharpur Rail line by 1.5 meters. This rail line used to cross the Kamla close to Jhanjharpur railway stations. Thus, the plans were afoot to raise and widen this bridge but this permanent bridge could not be built till 1965 while the embankment till Darjia was complete in 1962.

This state was not suited for the safety and security of embankment and the rail bridge. The newly constructed embankment of the Kamla-Balan got breached near Ramghat in 1963, south of the Jhanjharpur bridge, in the very first year of its commissioning and inundations had to be faced in the villages of Kharwar, Gangapur, Gunakarpur, and Belhi etc. In 1964, the embankments of the river breached at four places including the one near Daiya Kharbar (it had breached here last year also) and many villages of Jhanjharpur, Madhepur, and Manigachhi blocks faced severe flooding. The people here were not used to facing man made floods like this and it was a new experience for them. The river eroded a portion of Lakshmipur village near Jainagar in this years floods.

9. The First Major Setback To The Kamla Embankments 1965

“... if Mr. Bali had been an ordinary official, such an attempt to run down eye-witness accounts published in the press would not have mattered. No one unaffected by the floods would have cried over his beer about it. But he happens to be the divisional commissioner, the virtual Governor of his division on whose appreciation of the situation would depend the nature, extent and expedition of relief. At any rate if he has been reported correctly, his statement is likely to cause despair among the flood victims who are passing their day and night in the open on embankments, roads and all available uplands with little food and suffering untold hardship.”

It was an established fact that the floods were caused by the rail bridge at Jhanjharpur. After the incident, the Irrigation Department of the state and the Ministry of Railways, under the Central Government, traded charges on each other for the disaster. The then Irrigation Minister of Bihar, Mahesh Prasad Sinha, leveled charges against the railways that had they completed the bridge on time, the accident could have been averted and that the railway authorities paid no heed to the repeated advice and warnings of the engineers of the Irrigation Department. He reiterated his stand in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha on the 20th July 1965 and Sahdeo Mahto, on behalf of the Government, replied to a call attention motion explaining the existing situation, on the 6th August 1965. Similar charges were leveled by Hari Nath Mishra and Prem Chandra Mishra, MLAs, against the railways. This blame game entered a very interesting phase as the Railway Minister at the center, Dr. Ram Subhag Singh, was also an MP from Bihar. He flatly denied the charges leveled by Mahesh Prasad Sinha and Hari Nath Mishra that the railways had ever made a bridge that had obstructed the flow of water. He maintained that the North Eastern Railway had made only the approach road for the three bridges of 16 feet x 40 feet (5 meters x 12.2 meters) and in lieu of it, the railways had closed the mouth of one 20 feet x 10feet (6 meters x 3 meters) bridge. Therefore the charges leveled by the State Government on the Railway Department were baseless.

He said that the basic reason for this years devastating flood was the heavy rains in the Nepal portion of the catchment of the Kamla and the construction of the embankments on the either side of the river by the state Government.”

He added that the bridges of the Railways were made keeping in view the discharge of the River Balan and not for the combined flow of the Kamla Balan. Thus, both the sides had arguments in its armor to counter the allegations of the other.

The Chief Engineer of the CWPC, P. N.Kumra visited the bridge site on the 20-21st July and instructed the Railway Engineers that the height of the rail approach bund should be reduced by 1.5 meters and the other structures should be completed immediately. Dr. K.L.Rao, Central Irrigation Minister also visited Jhanjharpur on the 2nd August and asked the Railways to provide 20 vents in the bridge instead of 16 and the suggestion was accepted by the Railway Authorities. The engineers exercised greater restraint than their political counterparts in dealing with each other.

The government of Bihar threw all its experienced engineers and all its might in the repairs of embankments although it, took some time to organize things as it requires dry earth to be placed on the embankments to plug the breaches and this was not available throughout the rainy season. The Government was charged of inefficiency and the charges of corruption remains a permanent undercurrent in such situations.

A good number of villages, in the blocks of Madhepur and Jhanjharpur remained engulfed in floodwaters. Many villages had been trapped within the Kamla embankments that were not rehabilitated till then. The demand of rehabilitating them also picked up momentum. The Government, however, was not bothered about their plight and the flood victims did not have the resources to contest their case legally. Prem Chandra Mishra reminded the Government of the plight of the villages in Jhanjharpur, Madhepur, Manigachhi and Andhra Tharhi blocks that were trapped within the embankments and said that the conditions were abysmal for the villages of Darjia, Baidya Nath Pur, Rahika, Navtolia, Pipra Ghat, Bheria Rahi, Parta Pur and Harina etc. He wanted them to be rehabilitated immediately. After all these efforts, it was then presumed that the Kamla-Balan problem would be solved, once and forever. But this was a mirage.

10. Recommendations For Raising And Strengthening Of The Embankments And Demands For Demolition Of The Embankments

I ask you, last year the embankment had breached because of the callousness of the railways but why did it breach this year despite the control of the Irrigation Department? The pet rats of this Government would eat away this state. You will forgive me for saying so, these rats are there in the form of contractors and the Government engineers.

Similar complaints were made by Harish Chandra Jha MLA in the Vidhan Sabha.

He said that the Kamla embankments should be demolished and the situation prior to the construction of embankments restored. He further said that wherever he went for a round in the flood hit area, the people demanded, ...either the embankments should be demolished or they should be shot dead. Faced with the deluge, the people had been shattered, he said.

Baidya Nath Mehta told the Vidhan Sabha,

“... When you work for the good of some people, there are others who suffer, as a result. Is it not your duty in democracy that you compensate for the losses of such people. I had been to the interiors of the Kamla-Balan River...some 24 kilometers deep inside. The river water was touching the rooftops. Did you extend a helping hand to the victims? …Kindly make arrangements for the safety and security of the children of such people lest the republic would fail and the way the bureaucracy behaves, the Government would only get a bad name.”

The Kamla-Balan embankments were now completed but they had become an irritant for the Government. As a last resort, the state Government, in order to save its face and to fulfill its obligations to democracy requested the Central Water and Power Commission for help. The CWPC deputed a senior engineer. Moti Ram to look into the problem who suggested the following steps to be taken,

• Both the embankments of the Kamla-Balan should be raised and strengthened,
• To construct emergency shelters on the embankments that could be used in case of any eventuality,
• To make arrangements for tele-communication system for better safety and security,
• To construct two spill bridges of 122 meters each on either side of the Jhanjharpur bridge.

The state Government accepted all these recommendations but the only work that could be done was dumping earth on the embankments. The extension of the bridge was the job of the Railways and the Bihar Government was not involved in it.

By this time, the flood level within the embankments started going up to 3 meters from 1.2 meters, the deposition of sand within the embankments was increasing and waterlogging outside the embankments was becoming a persistent reality. The voices for the rehabilitation of those trapped between the embankments were being raised and demands were being made in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha to provide boats and strengthen relief operations. The requests were slowly getting converted to hurling curses,

“...We should constitute a committee of experts to find a cure for the disease that is embankment. The Government must prepare itself to face the breaches in the embankments otherwise many villages would just be swept away … Rehabilitation of these villages should be taken up immediately. The Government has obstructed the free flow of water and that has led to its stagnation. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Government to save the lives of the people and their cattle.”

Thus, while living was difficult some five years ago, after the construction of the embankments, dying seemed an easier option.

11. Breaches In The Embankments Become The Order Of The Day

12. The Flood Victims Breach The Embankments

A scheme to take care of the waterlogging due to Gehuma and other nallahs was prepared way back in 1963 at an estimated cost of Rs. 14,95,493/- by the Madhubani Minor Irrigation Department. This scheme had the recommendation of the B.D.Os of the Madhepur and Phulparas. The government had given assurance on the floor of the house then but no work was done. This scheme envisaged the drainage of the Gehuma water into the Kosi through the western embankment of it but the local residents were opposed to such a proposition because it would aggravate waterlogging and as the average land holdings are very small in the area, there was apprehension that lot of land would be lost in construction of the training works. This scheme is in suspension ever since.

The residents of Bhith Bhagwanpur waited patiently for many years. They prayed to all and sundry, sat for Dharna many a times, went on hunger strike and when nothing worked, they went and cut the embankment one night. Some fifteen persons of the village were arrested for breaking law and order but no cases were instituted against them. With the breach of the embankment, the water got a free passage to the river and the river water could also flow freely into the countryside. The depressions in the countryside of the embankment got filled up with the sediments carried in flood waters and agriculture resumed on this land after so many years. After many years of persuation, the Government succeeded in plugging this breach recently.

While the people breached the embankment at Bhith Bhagwanpur, it breached, on its own, near Sohrai, on the western side and south of the Sakri-Jhanjharpur rail line. As a result, a thick layer of sand got deposited in the villages of Sohrai and Pokharbhinda. All the 25 tanks in these villages were filled with sand, agriculture came to a standstill and many cattle died. Some grass has started growing over these lands now. Seepage preceded the failure of embankment at Sohrai and the villagers had rushed to the Department to seek remedy. The engineers came to the spot but only after the embankment had breached. The then Water Resources Minister of Bihar had assured the Vidhan Sabha (1991) that he had plugged all the holes through which the money meant for flood control in the state was leaked out in corrupt ways and also that he would not allow any embankment to breach. He would resign his post if any embankment breached in the state. In the same year (1991), the western Kosi embankment was eroded at Joginia, in Nepal, and the minister had to resign. The upkeep of this embankment, in Nepal, is the responsibility of the Water Resources Department of Bihar. The resignation was, however, not accepted. More details about this incident are available elsewhere and we would not go into the details here. The state faced an unprecedented drought in 1992. The rainy season of 1993 was the time for the minister to prove his assertion. The Government was not prepared to accept that the embankment had breached at Sohrai because the minister said to the contrary while the local people, in an attempt to get some dole from the Government, had to prove literally that the embankment had actually breached. Later, when the engineers arrived to plug the breach, the villagers tried to interrupt the work and many people were arrested. The Government, however, succeeded in plugging the breach.

In 1994, the embankment breached at Navtol and Balbhadrapur in the east and Naruar and Baur on the west. The way that the Bhith. Bhagwanpur farmers had shown was adopted by the others too. In 1995, eastern embankment of the Kamla was cut at Belhi, Nirmala (2- points), Khairi (Ballia), Khairi (Parsad), and Phatki (Parsad); 6 points altogether simultaneously. The impact of this breaching became obvious in the very next season. Because of the spreading of the fresh soil on the fields, there was a bumper crop of the Green Gram in Nirmala and the villagers could sell Green Gram worth Rs. 1,30,000/- in the market. The agricultural production had come to a halt in this area due to waterlogging for the past ten years. This year Digambar Mandal and Sunil Mandal along with 16 others belonging to the village Khairi were charged of breaching the embankment and cases initiated against them. Another 300 unknown persons were also booked in the same case that never came up for hearing. The Government filled all the breaches in spite of this and amidst protests.

In 1996, the embankment breached in Navtol, Balbhadrapur and Phatki and was cut in Nirmala once again. In 1997, the western embankment was cut at Gopalkha and Jaideopatti in the Ghanashyampur, and Baur (Gaura-Bauram block) of Darbhanga district. All these points were located on the western embankment and with so many breaches there, the pressure on the eastern embankment eased out and there were no breaches or any cut there. The breach at Gopalkha was affected after careful consideration. The villagers wanted to cut the embankment at such a place so that the fresh water and silt of the river could spread on to their fields such that the land emerges from the water. At the same time they wanted to ensure that no damage was done to their houses. The embankment near Gopalkha and Ram Khetari was in a dilapidated state and was likely to breach any moment. The villagers wanted that before an uncontrolled breach took place, they would breach the embankment in a controlled fashion i.e.: at a place suited to them, and thus turn a potential disaster into an advantage. This job was done but there was a mistake in choosing the spot where the breach was to be made. There was soil deposition also but it blocked the drainage upstream, which resulted eventually in waterlogging in upper reaches.

Some people believe that the breach at Gopalkha was not affected by the villagers but was sponsored by the Civil Administration of jhanjharpur, which is one of the sub-divisional head quarter of Madhubani district. Most of the Government offices are located there. This town is located on the eastern bank of the Kamla. It suits the administration that the embankment breaches only on the south of the Sakri-Jhanjharpur rail line or, else, anywhere on the western embankment. Otherwise, the water will enter Jhanjharpur town with all its mud and sand. In the floods of 1987, floodwaters stayed for a very long time in Jhanjharpur and it left a thick bed of sand when it receded. The administration still remembers the hardships faced by it in 1987 and the impact of that flood is still visible there. Scores of ponds and tanks in this area were filled with sand. A law college, Shiv Shankar Poddar Law College has come up on one such filing. The ground floor of Lalit Narayan Janta College was filled with sand and classes there could be resumed only after digging over 1.25 meters sand. The breach that had occurred in the eastern embankment of the Kamla near Chamrahi, close to the Jhanjharpur Bazar, caused waterlogging on over 1500 hectares of land of Partapur and it still continues to be waterlogged. The residents of this village were turned into paupers overnight and were forced to leave the village in search of employment elsewhere. Unless there is a breach in the Kamla embankment, upstream of Partapur, this chaur will not be filled and the land would not emerge out of water. This, the Jhanjharpur administration would resist with all its might. The flood protection in this area is possible only if someone else pays the price for it. There is no evidence that the administration helped the breach in Gopalkha and, at the same time, no evidence is available that the villagers cut it; either. The fact, however, remains that the embankment had breached at Gopalkha.

Anyway, the breaches in the Kamla embankment continue unabated. These embankments breached in Jaidev Patti (65 km from Jainagar) and Baur-Inayatpur (73lm), in Darbhanga in 1998; Belhi (58 km) and Phatki (62 km) in Madhubani, in 1999: Belhi (62 km) (Madhubani) and Kaithwar (Darbhanga) in 2000; Devna (62 km) (Darbhanga) in 2001: and Bhaduar, PipraGhat, Navtol and Banaur (Mabhubani) and Thengha, Jhagarua and Rasiyari (Darbhanga) in 2002. On the 9th July2004, within a span of 16 hours, the Kamla-Balan embankments breached in over 20 places including Murhatti, Bithauni, Bhaduar, Pipraghat, Navtol, Balbhadrapur, Daiya Kharbar, Gangapur, Raj Kharwar, Phatki, Bhagwanpur, Daldal, Parwalpur, Thengaha, Devana, Naruar, Mahinathpur and Olipur.

This process will continue till such time the embankments exist. As one moves toward the south of the Sakri-Nirmali Rail line, the miseries suffered by the people increases. In a rain deficit year of 2005, the Kamla embankments had breathed at Seven places including one at Godhaul.

As a matter of fact, a black triangle of manmade miseries is created by the western Kosi embankment (length 125 kilometers), the eastern Kamla-Balan embankment (86 kilometers) and the western Kosi Canal (90 kilometers), from its Head Works at Bhardah in Nepal to Kasma Marar in Khajauli Block where the canal crosses the Kamla River. The slope of the land of this area is from north to south with a leaning toward the east . The uncontrolled water from the north, almost covering the entire length of the Western Kosi Canal (WKC) enters this funnel and causes devastation. Many small rivulets add to the problem in this zone.

The problems mated by the western Kosi embankment are of a different kind. The Kosi changes it course within its embankments and depending up on its location, it attacks the embankments. The western Kosi embankment has breached at Dalwa (1963), Jamalpur (1968), Ghonghepur and Samani (1987) and at Joginia (1991). An account of these breaches is available elsewhere and we will not go into those details here. The people living on the countryside of the embankments live in constant fear of a possible breach anywhere though the rain months. Whenever there had been a breach or if it takes place in future, it would cause a lot of devastation for the people living closer to this arm of the triangle.

13. Victims of Drainage Congestion

“...I am not an engineer but do posses some commonsense. The western embankment of the Kosi and both the embankments of the Kamla, three in total, pass through the village Rasiyari. In this zone, waters from more than hundred kilometers collect but the spacing between the Kosi and the Karnla embankment may not be more than one an: a half kilometers. You will call this my modesty if I use the word 'folly' that they have committed by giving such a narrow passage to floodwaters. I could as well use the word 'wickedness'. Their faces should be painted black and a plaque hung around their neck describing the crime they have committed and they should be paraded in Connaught Place in Delhi and sentenced to life imprisonment.”

The result of this 'folly' is that below Bheja, in the Madhepur block of the Madhubani district, a scene of an ocean is created with the onset of the monsoon. According to the Western Kosi Canal sources, an area of 90,450 hectares, lying below the 44.19 meters contour line, that joins Bheja with Laheriasarai, is now permanently waterlogged and no crops can be grown over it unless there is a drought as intense as it was in 1992. Some enterprising farmers have started sowing summer paddy in this area for the past few years but if there is an untimely rain in the catchment areas of the Kosi or. the Kamla, whether local or otherwise, even this crop would be lost. This is the area where once the Kosi Canals were supposed to provide irrigation and the canal is likely to get extended there.

Dev Nath Devan (Vill.and PO Sundar Birajit, Block Madhepur, Dist. Madhubani) complains that,

“...If one travels to the area that I am talking about with the engineers who had designed these embankments and introduced as one, I. am not sure how the people will behave with them....Mr. Engineer! Did you not notice the simple fact that the waterway is too narrow for the catchment and that there will be: problems in future? And, Mr. Politician! Did you also not know that this is going to happen in future? Then what sort of technocrat or a leader you are?”

He continues,

“...those who were trapped between the pairs of the Kosi and the Karnla embankments, have lost their identity as human beings but look at the situation of those who were protected from the floods of both the rivers. We have lost our Kharif crop for all times to come and the Rabi crop can be taken only when the water is drained out in time for sowing. But that does not happen. These protected people have become paupers.”

This results in massive unemployment. That, probably, is the reason why there is a direct State bus service to the carpet making capital of Uttar Pradesh, the town of Bhadohi. The children of this area have to earn their bread to survive by working on the carpet looms.

Devan's bitterness in not unfounded. As one travels from Madhepur to Bheja, one passes through a small market called Lakshmipur Chowk. There is an arch gate on the right side of the road here named after a freedom fighter Janki Nandan Singh who hailed from this area. He, later, became an MLA too. As one stands facing this gate during the rainy season, one pictures it as the Gateway to Floods. The Kosi and the Karnla embankments are not very far away from this spot. Though this area is technically protected from floods; one can undertake a journey from this 'protected' point straight to the Ganga by boat. The water starts coming to this area towards the end of the summer. The flood season starts here when the snow melts in the Himalayan range and these waters start flowing into the rivers. By the time the water is drained or dried, it is December-January and the sowing season for the Rabi is over. Surya Narayan Thakur narrates the story of impact of the man made floods, waterlogging and the breaches in the embankments on agriculture of the area.

Had the matter stopped at the breathes of the embankments and the mismanagement of the waterlogging problem, one could have adjusted to the situation. The Canal water from the WKC, either through the breaches in its banks or due to release of water into the escape channel, gets into the Sugarwe River near Kalari Patti in Laukahi. This water drowns the area located south of the Jhanjharpur-Nirmali rail line spoiling any Rabi crops that has been sowed there. This, unfortunately, is an annual feature.

Despite this callousness and arrogance, the Government is hell bent on pushing the Western Kosi Canal into this area and, obviously, the farmers are opposing ig it’s extension. Many farmers have refused to take the compensation for their land, which has been acquired by the Government and those who have already taken it, want to return it back. One has to watch and see the success of these moves. In January 2004, many villagers of this area were charged for obstruction of the extension of the Western Kosi Canal and threatening peace. People are apparently, not opposed to the canal Let the Government do whatever it likes to do, they say, but when it comes to parting with the land, the tension mounts.

The problems related to the western embankment of the Kamla are no less. From Benipatti in the north to Manigachhi, Biraul, Alinagar, Tardih, Kiratpur and Singhia in the south: the situation remains the same. If there is any breach on the western embankment, these are the areas that face the wrath of the river Kamla or its abandoned channels. This area, its rivers and their problems need a separate study and it is not intended to go into those details here.

14. Safety of the Embankments

“...These villages are located within the Kosi embankments and the Bela Dhar is an offshoot of the Kosi. As the river water rises, it threatens the village and erosion takes place. The Government is not responsible for protecting the village from erosion. The villagers have been paid the compensation to shift from those places. That land is meant only for agriculture and not for the habitations....The Government does not spend money to protect these villages.”

This was a policy statement by the Government and it stands by its words till date. This implies that the Government has absolved itself of any obligation that it might have had for the people living within the embankments of the rivers. If the embankments remain in their position, the life of those living within the embankments becomes miserable. It is the duty of the Water Resources Department of the state to ensure safety of the embankments. How far this duty is observed, we have seen it in earlier sections.

The mandate given to the Kamla-Balan engineers is the same, in that their job is to ensure the safety of the embankments and preventing water from flowing from the river into the countryside on either side of the embankments. Thus, protecting life and property in the countryside is their job. That this also means that the life and property of those living within the embankments would be at stake is not their business. They resort to flood fighting for the same and they can go to any extent to achieve these objectives. As the river meanders between the two embankments, it can attack any of the embankments. A list of such vulnerable points on the embankments is finalized by 31st May every year. It is the duty of the Chief Engineer (Flood Control) to prepare a Flood Manual every year that gives all the directives to ensure safety against floods. It contains the rules and directions for patrolling the embankments besides giving a complete list of all the officers of the department, from overseers to executive engineers, to draw up on, in case of any emergency. In spite of all such arrangements, the embankments remain fragile and their status as a flood protection measure remains a topic for discussion among the public.

14.1 NGOs Blamed For The Breaches

“...I can imagine any one criticizing us for the breaches except the engineers of the Kamla or the Kosi Project. I must say, long long ago, there was one demon king Ravana who had ten heads. These days, we have Ravanas all around us but all of them have just one head. They all speak the same language. Wherever you go, you will find the same Ravana. How many billion dollars of foreign loan is there on our country? And, have you seen wrinkles on the face of any leader? There is a smile on the face of each one of them. How can we develop? Everything has slipped into the hands of the criminals. Big epics (The Mahabharata- Author) were written when a king made advances toward a fisherman's daughter. That happens here everyday and not even whispering takes place.”

He continues,

“...Whether the embankment breaches or is cut, there is sediment deposition of 4 to 5 meters in the countryside. This happened on a large scale in 1987. So much of earth is deposited in one stroke. How much will it cost if you float a tender for moving the same amount of earth? All the low-lying land was filled up that year. It doesn't take long to get the sand converted into mud in the Kamla basin. This river was our gold line. Why did this sand bother you? You should have allowed it to build the land. This, the river does free of cost and that is a duty assigned to the river by the nature. Then, one cannot sleep peacefully for three months for the fear of failure of the embankment. Why should the people not cut it and sleep peacefully? Is the land not waterlogged where the embankment is intact? The fact is, that the plans and estimates are made br one thing and the executed works are entirely different. They only aim to spend the money and are not bothered about the outcome of the same. The people at Nirmala had cut the embankment and the soil deposition that took place was worth millions of rupees. Why this is not taken into account by the Government? If we remain trapped in waterlogging and, yet, keep quiet then they feel that the area is developing.”

As far as the role of the NGOs in breaching the embankments is concerned, it is replied by Kameshwar Kamati of village Simra, Block-Jhanjharpur, Distt. Madhubani. He says, ....There is a small difference between a voluntary organization and an NGO, just the same that we see in Bharat and India. The 'Indian NGOs’ have a materialistic philosophy and believe in 'Eat Drink and Be Merry'. They rule the roost but are not bothered about the public. Their office bearers, generally, live in Patna or Delhi, they raise money in the name of poor people there and that money is spent there only. These expenditures are audited there and a jazzed up report of their work with the poor is published, only to raise more money in future. These NGOs often publish advertisements about their works, their interviews appear in the press, TV and the radios, and they always steal the limelight. As far as I know, there are only two organizations that get some donations from within India and abroad, south of the said railway line.

The officials of the Government, despite having access to all the resources and authority, cannot protect these structures and pass the buck on to the NGOs. This is an insult to the people residing in the villages close to the embankments that they do not understand their own well being and breach the embankments at the insinuation of the NGOs and they have no understanding of what is happening around them. Only a few years ago, the people at Bhith Bhagwanpur declared openly that they have cut the embankment (1993) and wanted the Government to try them in a court of law but the engineers left the scene and the administration started saying that the embankment had breached on its own and it was not cut. The people who have suffered floods and waterlogging have cut the embankment, for sure, but this cannot be a handiwork of the NGOs. The 'Indian NGOs' relax in their bedrooms while 'Bharat' looks after itself. This whole exercise is to escape the responsibility of floods and to divert the flood debate. The embankments, however, are breaching ever since they were built and the NGOs that the engineers are referring to, were born only a few years ago. It will be of interest to know that when the Kamla-Balan embankment breached at 21 points, in 1965, how many NGOs were operating in the area at that time.

14.2 Evict People From The Embankments

15. The Bogey Of Raising And Strengthening The Embankments

Can the flood problem ever be solved by raising and strengthening the embankments? Will the flow of the floodwaters or the accompanying sediment be reduced by it? Will the riverbed stop rising after the embankments are raised and strengthened? Will it help in reducing the seepage from the embankments and shun waterlogging? Can any engineer guarantee that the embankment that we are calling sturdy and strong today will not breach tomorrow? The answer to all these questions is a big -No. A higher and sturdy embankment will be a greater security threat to the people living in the countryside of the embankment. Unfortunately, the establishment does not take cognizance of these facts. Then what is the use of raising and strengthening these? It's only utility is to improve the movement of traffic and the Government jeeps and vehicles will find it easier to ply over it. To achieve this objective, a bogey is being raised that the floods will be controlled by raising and strengthening the embankments. All this is being done to convince people that the floods will reduced by resorting to such measures because flood control is a saleable item and it suits all the vested interests including engineers, administrators, politicians and the contractors. In good old days, the labourers used to get some employment in earth cutting but that, too, has now slipped into the hands of the tractor owners coming from other states. It does not create local employment either.

16. Rehabilitation in the Kamla Project

“...Ours was not the area of the Kamla. It was Balan here and the Kamla joined it in 1954. As long as it was Balan, we had no problems but the profile of the river fell too short to accommodate the flow of the Kamla. Then came engineers who claimed that when the rivers in China can be brought to terms, Kamla was a river of no consequence before those mighty rivers? They embanked the combined stream of the Kamla Balan in late 1950s. We used tanks for irrigating our fields earlier and could grow paddy, pulses and oil seeds without much of efforts. But slowly, all our trees and vegetation was lost because of the sand that the river brought along with its waters. Biju Jha of our village had mango orchard Of 52 bighas and it was not possible for a person to taste the fruits of all the trees in one go. There were varieties of mangoes in it, from Biju to Kalmi. There were big Jamun (black berry) trees that two persons could not circumvent its stem, a third one was needed. All that is gone now. The tanks have disappeared. All the splendor of my village has disappeared. We neither got any rehabilitation nor compensation. This, despite the fact that ours was the constituency of Jagannath Mishra who thrice became the chief minister of the state. This area has become another Afghanistan now, all barren. There will be revolt if similar situation arises, say, in Punjab. But we are contented.”

Atiq-ur-Rehman (64) from the same village adds,

“... Our downfall started with this embankment. Waterlogging outside and sedimentation within the embankments started soon. Then started the breaches in the embankment. There was chaos, which resulted in protests and local people started cutting the embankments for fresh silt that the river used to bring. There were 9 villages trapped within the embankments in our vicinity. These were Harna, Bhaduar, Bithauni, Tirhutta, Bhikhna, Partapur, Dumar Banna, Baksahi and Rajanpura. Some land was acquired in Bithauni, Bhaduar and Harna for resettlement in 1967. Those shifted to the resettlement sites returned soon to their original villages as the resettlement plot was too small. Also, if you have four kids, they would need four houses when they become adult and the land could hardly accommodate one. They all came back. Ninety five per cent of land of Harna and Bhaduar is trapped within the embankments and the agriculture is just a lottery. In these places, the soil is not washed away: it is the land that is swept away. I remember Binodanand Jha, who later became the Chief Minister of the state, used to come and tell us that he would compensate for all our losses, even the loss of bananas in a tree. It was a wholesale fooling of the people. Our patience has exhausted now and we all know that the Government would never do anything to provide us the succor. If it takes back the embankment, we will manage our river.”

The plight of those who did not come to the rehabilitation sites or went back to their original village within the embankments is a bit different. Says Lakshmi Narayan Yadav (50) of village Bheria Rahi, PO Thengaha, Block Tardih, Dist Darbhanga,

“...Darjia is about 5-6 kilometers down south from here and this embankment must have been built around 1961-62. We were kids then and I do not know whether we got any rehabilitation at all. Indra Kant Jha of Thengaha became Mukhia in 1979 and he advised us to go to Jhanki Pokhar and settle there on the Government land. We were told this by Indra Kant Babu but the Government was maintaining its silence. If the Government gives us rehabilitation in Madhubani, we will go there but there is no point in seeking rehabilitation in the countryside of the embankment here. This embankment breaches every year and why should we willingly face devastation? When the embankment breaches, it plays havoc with those living on the countryside. We are also inconvenienced but our crops are saved. Our land has risen high because of the continued sedimentation. If the water level rises to foot of the ox there, then it will overflow the embankment. This is happening regularly since 1987. The residents of Belhi, Khairi, Nirmala and Gunakarpur had taken shelter here in our village in 1987. We spent about 80 mounds of Ragi in the flood season that year. We are happy that we could do something to help the people in need. No Government, whether State or the Central reaches here when we face emergencies. Relief supplies are sanctioned in our names but it never reaches here....The embankments are spaced at about a kilometer and if they are raised by 1.5 meters every year, it would result in the raising of land by 60 centimeters annually. How long will you raise the embankments? And if you don't allow the water to flow, will it keep quiet? It would surely, do something in its own defence.”

The situation in Baksahi, block Babu Barhi, Distt. Madhubani is slightly different. Baue Lal Mukhia (62) recalls what had happened there when the embankment was constructed. He says, .... When the embankment was going to be built, Shyam Sidhap and Baksahi villages were trapped within the embankments. It was proposed to acquire land for resettlement in Ghanghaur but the land there was less and some influential people of these villages obstructed the acquisition process and we were compelled to live in our original village. Then came a proposal of constructing a ring bund around our village and we all opposed it because we knew there will be river water outside the ring and the rainwater within the ring would not drain out.

Shyam Sidhap is a village where majority of population is Brahmin and they did not want to shift to Ghanghaur and they were also not prepared to live with us in the rehabilitation site. We got the compensation for the land that was acquired for the embankment but failed to get resettlement and stayed back in our old village. There was a severe flood some 35 years ago when we left the village and came on to this embankment. Some of us have made houses on the 20 feet wide strip on the countryside of the embankment. We know that this land is not ours and belongs to the landlords of Shyam Sidhap and this embankment also does not belong to us. We are landless. But we have lived here for a generation now, planted mango, black berry, Pipal. Ashok and many other trees and treat this place as ours. We have not been issued any notice by the Government to evacuate but if the Government evicts us, we will go from here. What else a helpless person can do? We don't have the capacity to pick up quarrel with anyone? But for the employment opportunities in Kolkata, Asansol, Punjab or Bhadohi: we do not have any source of livelihood.

It is the same story everywhere. Either the people did not get resettlement or they got it and then returned back to their village. The rehabilitation site was captured by the local toughs in many cases, if it was useful anyway for them, of else it got waterlogged and then rendered useless.

17. Not Everything Is Alright In The Kamla Basin

18. The Proposed Chisapani Dam On The Kamla

There is no flood cushion provided in this proposed dam and flood control, if any, is proposed to be achieved through flow regulation alone. It is interesting to note whether the politicians and engineers are aware of this fact as both claim that once the ChisaPani dam is constructed, the flood problem of the Kamla basin will be solved.

This darn was first proposed in 1956 and is expected to cost Rs. 92.80 Crores at 1990 price levels. The details of this dam will be worked out once an agreement is reached between the Government of India and His Majesty's Government in Nepal. With Mahakali Treaty (1996) remaining a non-starter, one really does not know when the two Governments will agree on the ChisaPani darn on the Kamla. Otherwise also, despite the repeated assurances of the politicians in India, this dam will be built only when Nepal so desires and nobody knows when this dam will come in the ambit of her priorities. Further, the location where this dam is proposed, the river has a catchment of only 1409 Sq. Km while the catchment area of the river, below the dam, is 5,823 Sq Km. Because the catchment area of the river below the dam is about 4 times larger than that at the proposed dam site, it is unlikely that the dam will have any significant contribution in controlling the floods of the river.

19. Is There A Way Out?

It is essential, therefore, to make the Irrigation aspect of the project more accountable to the farmers and it should be ensured that the promises made to the people by the Kamla Irrigation Project or by WKC, in future, are met with. There is total indifference towards performance at the moment in both these projects.

As far as WKC is concerned, the first foundation stone of this canal was laid by Jagjiwan Ram, in 1957 and before the work on the actual construction could start in 1974, there were four more foundation laying ceremonies. The project was estimated to cost Rs. 13.49 crores, initially (1962) and it was expected then that the canal would irrigate 2.63 lakh hectares of crop area when completed. The WKC, after spending Rs 621 crores (March 2005), 46 times more than the original estimate, irrigated just 17,390 hectares which is only 6.61 percent of its stated objective. The WRD of the State claims that the construction of the canal would be completed by 2008, which is unbelievable because the WRD of the state is claiming. since 1984, that it would complete the work on the WKC in all respects within the coming two years. The project estimate has shot up to Rs. 904 crores (1998 price levels). The project is yet to spend Rs. 183 crores at the 1998 price level and the kind of investment that is going into the canal makes it impossible to get it completed by 2008. There is an urgent need to change such a situation and pressure should be brought on to the Government to make serious interventions. This is possible only by exerting pressure by the farmers groups and, unfortunately, there is none.

Same thing holds for the flood control also. Where is that flood-protected area of 3.40 lakh hectares that was promised to be flood free by the Kamla embankments? If the ChisaPani Dam is the last and final solution to problems facing the people, then why it is not being built? There is a need to create awareness about these issues. Besides, there are many things in the fields of livelihood, agriculture, health, education, communication, housing, water supply and sanitation that the people and the society can implement at their level. These details are available elsewhere. There is a need to get an evaluation of the Kamla Flood Protection Scheme done by involving the affected people too and if the project is creating more problems than actually solving them, some consensus decisions must be taken about the future of these schemes. It must be reminded here that the real problem lies not with the floodwaters but with the sediments. This has not been tackled by building embankments and will continue to persist even if a dam at ChisaPani is built. The problems have arisen in these basins because the presence of excessive silt in floodwaters, drainage congestion caused by faulty road and rail construction, unscientific construction of embankments and canals and vested interest in perpetuation of the flood problem. Every farmer would want the natural floods to occur but not the one that one is exposed to these days.

This aspect has been grossly ignored by the engineers bureaucrats, politicians arid NGOs and unless that is tackled, no amount of preparation to face floods as disaster, disaster mitigation and post-flood rehabilitation would help. Floods have traditionally been a way of life in the area and only vested interest would rate them as a disaster. The disaster, if at all it is there, is purely manmade and with some efforts it should be possible to identify the men who made it and want to perpetuate the same. Unless the problem is identified properly and a effort is made to genuinely solve it; distribution of flattened rice, jaggery, horse gram and polythene sheets will unfailingly continue to occupy the center stage during every flood season and the vested interests in relief operations will continue to have a field day.

Traditionally, the floodwaters used to travel far and wide, in an uninterrupted manner, and with that used to travel the suspended load in it. This led to the rejuvenation of the fertility of the soil and moderation of floods, to a large extent. The heavier particles of sand mostly remained to the confines of the rivers but, by building the embankments on it, the flood levels were raised and the subsequent breaches in the embankment made the spread of water and sediments unruly and coarse sand got pushed into the field. The sediments will create a different set of problem even if Chisa Pani Dam is built. Also, it will not be wise to ignore the role played by the Chaurs and Tanks of the area in moderation of floods. Elderly people of the basin opine that the first heavy spell of rains in the season were useful in settling the dust of the summer and absorb the heat. The next round of rains would fill in all the fields and filling of the chaurs and tanks would take place during the third round of rains. Having achieved all this, the river spill used to spread all over and was known as the first flood, an event eagerly awaited by all and sundry. The villagers knew the importance of these depressions and used to maintain these chaurs and tanks. This established practice was later taken over by the Government, which neither did the job nor allowed people to do it themselves. It is essential that the use of modern science should not be done as an obstinate response, it should be used to strengthen the well-thought and time-tested traditions.

One hears quite often that the Kamla embankments are likely to be extended from Jainagar to Mirchaiya, in Nepal. If that is true, then what is happening from Jainagar to Mansara in the Indian portion will also happen between Mirchaiya and Jainagar. If this is acceptable to all. we do not have anything to say. But if there are breaches or cuts in Nepal portion of the embankment, the gushing water will create problems in Bihar villages close to the border. India may have to bear the costs of the relief and rehabilitation measures in Nepal and compensating for the losses. This is a reality because India had to spend a sum of Rs. 5.17 Crores on the repairs of the damaged western Kosi embankment at Joginia, in Nepal, in 1991 and had to pay a compensation of Rs. 19.80 lakhs to Nepal for acquiring temporary lands, trees, crop losses and shifting of the houses etc. Fortunately, the floodwaters of the Kosi had receded and there was no loss to the life and property in Joginia. Such breaches or cuts will create unnecessary social tensions in the border areas.

Lastly,

if at any stage, the negotiations about the proposed Chisa Pani Dam on the Kamla enters a crucial phase, it must be ensured that the cost of proper rehabilitation of those trapped within the Kamla embankments is added to the cost of the dam. Also, the estimates must take care of the costs of removal of water logging in the Kamla-Kosi interfluves, the plans of which are being prepared since 1958 and no action has been taken over these proposals so far. Any construction of a dam in the basin must only be taken up on the condition that proper rehabilitation of the embankment victims will be done and waterlogging removed from the lower areas. People should not fall into the trap that once the dam is built, all the problems of the basin would be solved.

It is apprehended that once the dam building activity takes any serious turn, all the emphasis will go to the submergence areas and the rehabilitation there and the voices of the people of the lower downstream areas would be lost in the din. The fresh problems that the Chisa Pani Dam would create in future in the down stream areas would be over and above these problems. The fact remains that the proposed Chisa Pani Dam will not solve any problem of the downstream areas. Much depends on the embankment victims and the civil society present in the basin areas as to whether it prepares itself for a struggle to get its legitimate rights or, else, believe the dam builders and get cheated once again.

Reference