Story of a ghost river and engineering witchcraft

We cannot do anything even if we want to

Dev Narayan Kamat, (56), Mukhia—Ramnagar-Suriahi Panchayat, Block—Phulparas, Dist.—Madhubani

...The eastern embankment of the Bhutahi Balan is incomplete while the western embankment has been completed and it has been extended up to the railway line at Parsa. The eastern embankment has been terminated at Narahia and that has led to the virtual destruction of that village. Bhutahi Balan is, possibly, the only river in the world that has been embanked only on one side. If the Government was so keen to build the embankment, it should have built them on both sides of the river or, else, it should not have built them at all. But politics can swing the things the way it likes.

The Bhutahi Balan used to flow through the places where the Sub-divisional office, the Block office, the Registry and the Thana is now located. Now, this river has shifted to the east. Phulparas and its neighbouring villages have given many leaders like Dhanik Lal Mandal (Belha), who became a Central Minister and Governor; Devendra Prasad Yadav (Phulparas) another minister at the Center and Rasik Lal Yadav (Barhi), M.L.A. The Bhutahi Balan embankment was built to save these areas from its recurring floods. But whenever there was some move to construct the eastern embankment, there was opposition to it from people of Phulparas. The incomplete eastern embankment of the Bhutahi Balan offers little protection to the land located on the eastern side and some 54 villages located between the Bhutahi Balan and the Bihul bear the brunt of the floods contributed by Bhutahi Balan. Life between the western embankment of the Kosi and the Bhutahi Balan becomes 'unnatural' during the rainy season.

In 1978, Dhanik Lal Mandal, when he was the minister of state in the ministry of Home Affairs at Delhi, called a public meeting to discuss local development issues at Belha. In that meeting, a demand for the building of the eastern Bhutahi Balan embankment was raised. But one really does not know what made him say that the eastern embankment would be built, but only over his dead body. We were hurt hearing him say so. This embankment was built partly but the construction was stopped at Narahia. If this embankment were extended a bit further, more villages would have been benefited but devastation is in our fate.

There was a proposal to extend this. eastern embankment in 1995-96. This time, we had voted for Dev Nath Yadav to the Vidhan Sabha hoping that he would do something in the direction of extending the embankment further. He is also from Phulparas but he had promised that he would complete the embankment if he were elected to the Vidhan Sabha. This time the Government had given an assurance in the Vidhan Sabha, the WRD had sanctioned the extension of the eastern embankment, tendering and contracting formalities were complete then, and when the work was about to start, we also thought of offering shramdaan and people from affected villages reached the site with their spades and the baskets under the leadership of Dev Nath Babu. There were volunteers from Suriahi, Narahia, Bhabtiahi, Chhajna, Majhaura, Bairiahi, Musaharnia, Jahali Patti and Ratan Sera and their numbers must have been higher than one thousand. We had not anticipated any problem as all the formalities had been completed. When we reached the site, we found that there were people from Barhi and Phulparas to stall the work and they had come with full preparation. There was a fight between the pro and anti embankment groups while the administration remained a silent a spectator. Three persons from Ratan Sera were badly injured and one of them died later. We had gone there to offer shramdaan with our spades and baskets and had no intention of fighting anybody but the other side had come prepared. The result was that we got the beating though we were in greater in number and the work could not start.

The Collector of Madhubani was present there, engineers were there on the job, everything was in our favour and had the administration helped us, the embankment was sure to be built but we returned empty handed. What more can we tell about our misery? The river dumps sand up to a depth of 5 feet in one go. Houses get ruined and it becomes difficult to handle the cattle. We cannot do anything even if we want to.

I should silently face the fire and the floods, I should remain thirsty and sleep without meals, I should let my children remain deprived of education and my parents die for the want of medicines. If I do not raise any voice then i am a responsible citizen of this country. If I complain it to anybody then that becomes an unpardonable offence. If the son of a poor man complains that he was roughed up by a rich man's son, then his father also gets a bashing. That is in our tradition. I do not know, what freedom means to us other than the freedom of getting bashed up from time to time.

They Trade in Bogus Erosion and False Security Here.

Hari Narayan Yadav (52), Mukhia Phulparas, Dist Madhubani.

'...In 1962-63, a small embankment was built on the Bhutahi Balan, which diverted the flow of the river, and this diverted stream directly hit the village of Radha Nandan Jha, former Speaker of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha. He still is a towering Congress leader and was, naturally, concerned about the developments. Lalit Narayan Mishra was an upcoming star in Indian politics then and it was decided with his help to prevent the Bhutahi Balan from shifting to west. That is how the embankments were built on the western bank of the river. I do not know, why they did not propose the embankment on the left side of the river, that time. The proposal was ready in 1970-71 but it took 1974 to start the work. The student's movement of Bihar was at its peak those days and they were opposed to the embanking of the Bhutahi Balan. They gave the slogan, 'Stop Building the Embankment- Do Not Harass the People'. There was a big public meeting of students and common people in Dhabaha Parti, which was attended by Parmeshwar Yadav and Dr. D.P.Yadav of Nirmali. The villages located on the eastern embankment of the Bhutahi Balan had also opposed the embankment.

It was around this time that the 'emergency' was clamped and barring Congressmen, voices of all others were throttled. Political workers were arrested and put in jails and slowly the resistance melted. This embankment could be built only because of the 'emergency'. It could not have been built under normal circumstances. The impact of this embankment was felt in 1975 itself. In 1977-78, the Bhutahi Balan joined the Bihul and the very existence of Bairiahi was threatened. Bairiahi is a village with good connections and, in Narahia, there was money. The combination clicked and the demand for the embankment on the eastern side was made.

Karpoori Thakur came to power in 1977 and a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of N. Nagmani, Irrigation Commissioner, to look into the problems of the Bhutahi Balan. The main recommendation of this committee was that the Bhutahi Balan should be led to the Kosi, near Nirmali, along with the Dhanjaiya and the Bihul. Karpoori Government did not last long and with the fall of his Government, the Nagmani report, too, went in cold bag or it was suppressed.

Then came the new Government and the work on the eastern embankment started from Lakshmipur to Tengrar. The opposition to this embankment started building up as it moved forward. Residents of Phulparas were in the lead role in opposing and we had on our side the villages of Dhausahi, Goargama, half of Nan Patti Mallah Toli of Suriahi, Baluahi, Beldari, Chetharu Tol, Mujiasi, Dhankhore, Kalipur (Kamat) and Kisuni Patti. All these villages are located down the river. Besides, the land of the villages Ghoghardiha, Deorh, Brahmapur, Bathnaha and Belha also falls within the proposed embankments. The residents of these villages were also opposed to the eastern embankment of the Bhutahi Balan. We all met Karpoori Thakur who was the leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha then. He exercised his influence and the work on Lc embankment was stopped.

The situation here is such that every year both the parties remain busy throughout the earth cutting season in demonstrations, Dharna, processions, Rasta Roko and Rail Roko in support of their demands, some for starting the work and the remaining for stopping it. Karpoori Thakur had told Bindeshwari Dubey to bury this project for all times to come otherwise a population of 50,000 would be ruined and the agriculture would go to the dogs. He told him to get this issue thoroughly probed. Then came some Mr. Sharma, an engineer, to probe the things here. We asked him whether he had come to make some serious study or was it just a drama? The problem here was that the engineers never showed any visitor the Narahiai Bihul as the main channel. They always showed a dead channel of the river as the main channel. We showed both the channels to Sharma Ji and he was shocked to know how the things are manipulated here. We do not know what was his report but heard later that he had retired and with that ended one more chapter of the embankments.

As a matter of fact, they trade in bogus erosion and false security here where the engineers, the politicians and the contractors are equal partners. This all goes well in embankment construction. I do not remember the year, but there was a move to build the embankment between Tengrar and Mahathaur. When we got this news, there was a virtual panic here. I contacted the Mukhia of Mahathaur and invited him to the work site. In response to my call, contractors and criminals came to the site. We were hurt very deeply and the next day, we chased away the contractors. The criminals fled away, on their own. Then came the people from Bairiahi. Narahia. Bhabtiahi, Purab Nan Patti, Parsa. Basuari, Belha and Ratansera together to put pressure on us. I am a Gandhian and do not believe in violence. Dev Nath Babu (then MLA) had got the Assurance Committee constituted in Vidhan Sabha and he had a program that the members of the Assurance Committee would be present there and would ensure that the eastern embankment was built. If this embankment was built, our death was certain. We collected people by beating drums in a very short time and contacted Devendra Babu, MP, and told him that if the earth filling was not stopped, we would be ruined. In the meanwhile, police and the magistrate also arrived at the site. The magistrate was gheraoed by our women folk. The supporters of Dev Nath Babu blocked the movement of trains and we stopped the road traffic, in retaliation. We were threatened that next time the other side would return with arms and ammunitions We accepted the challenge and returned with traditional arms. The administration was present with ambulance as it had anticipated trouble. I, as a person, was under surveillance because the embankment builders believed that unless the Mukhia of Phulparas was arrested, the embankment could not be built.

We confronted the opponents with all our might and chased them away. Some drubbing also took place and the builders fled away leaving their arms behind. The people of Ratansera suffered a bit more of injuries. This entire tussle was useless and imposed on us. If we had not stopped the construction, the railways would have done that because their consent was also needed. We are fighting among ourselves for nothing because the embankment was not going to be built, anyway.'

Everybody Needs Their Votes

Kripa Nath Pathak (55), former member of the Bihar Legislative Council

Says Kripa Nath Pathak (55), former member of the Bihar Legislative Council and a resident of Mansapur village, located on the eastern side of the river, in the Bhutahi Balan basin, '...When the embankment was built in 1970s, that was the need of the hour. People wanted it to be built and the influence of Lalit Babu worked in its favour. It was built as an emergency measure and I am not sure whether proper investigation or designs were carried out then. I am also not sure why the eastern embankment was not built at that time. We wrote to various departments raising the matter, raised questions in the Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad and even began a movement for constructing the eastern embankment. The embankment was built only after these efforts as the floodwaters of the river and its accompanying sand was bothering 54 villages on the eastern side of the river. We succeeded in building it from Lakshmipur to Narahia, but it got stopped there.

After the construction of the western embankment, the farmers on the eastern side of the river, who used to produce thousand maunds of paddy earlier, could hardly produce any. Now, they have to purchase grains for their survival. We, on the eastern side, also wanted flood protection and an embankment there. This is only partly completed. The embankment has to extend from Narahia to Parsa but that has not been done. This area was once the constituency of Karpoori Thakur who could not correct the situation although he was the Chief Minister. There are two reasons for this. The Railway Authorities object to the construction of the eastern embankment on the ground that the rail-bridge near Parsa is incapable of passing the discharge of the Bhutahi Balan and unless the bridge is extended further, it will not allow the WRD to build the embankment. Secondly, if the eastern embankment is built, some villages will get trapped between the western embankment of the Bhutahi Balan and the proposed extension of the eastern embankment. These villages do not want to be displaced. It is certain that Pubaria Tol of Phulparas, Gorgama, Parsa and Jahali Patti will be trapped, in any case, and will have to be rehabilitated. There may be other villages but that we will know it only when the alignment of the eastern embankment is finalized.

If the Government had been serious about the issue, it would have contacted the Railways and resolved the problem. I do not know the state of correspondence between the Bihar Government and the Railways but since nothing is happening then it is obvious that the sanction has not been received. Railways were demanding the cost of extension of the rail bridge from the Bihar Government, which it is not giving. The politics over this proposed extension of the eastern embankment is at its peak. Those 54 villages, which, get flooded due to the western embankment of the Bhutahi Balan, vote en masse, irrespective of caste or creed, small or big, in the hope to get their demands fulfilled. Everybody needs their votes but in almost 20 years: nothing has been done for them.'