Proceedings of the Darbhanga Meeting 5th and 6th April 2000

We welcome you all to this meeting to discuss the problem of floods in north Bihar and its possible solutions. We had a long cherished desire to hold such a meeting in Darbhanga and that day has finally come today.

Why are we holding this meeting and specially on this day has got some significance. It was on this day, the 6th April 2000, fifty three years ago, that a meeting of the Kosi Sufferers was held at Nirmali and it was attended by the veteran leaders of their times. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sri Krishna Sinha and Gulzarilal Nanda, Lalit Narayan Mishra, Hari Nath Mishra etc. etc. Some 60,000 people who were hit regularly by the floods of the Kosi also attended this meeting. All these leaders had expressed grief over the plight of the flood affected people and it was this day that the then minister for planning C. H. Bhabha had publicly announced that the government was now going to build the Badh kshetra dam over the Kosi in Nepal and the dam would solve all the flood problems faced by the people. Besides, the dam would irrigate 12 lakh hectares of land and would produce 3300 megawatts of hydroelectric power.

This dam has not been built so far but the assurances continue still. We had held a meeting of Barh Mukti Abhiyan at Nirmali on the same day and same place on the 5th and 6th April 1997 to take a stock of the flood control works done over the past fifty years. We had resolved then that we shall be holding a similar meeting every year on these dates at some place or the other in north Bihar and we have so far succeeded in keeping our words, even if the meeting has been symbolic. Last year this meeting was held in Khagaria.

Barahkshetra dam has not been built so far and one cannot say with surety that it will ever be built either. The experiences gathered over past fifty years have raised a big question over the viability of these darns as a solution to the problems of irrigation and power production and that the flood protection has always been a low priority use of the dams. The issues of capital costs of the dams, their gestation period, the impact of earthquakes over these dams, strategic defence, displacement of the people and their rehabilitation etc. have put the dams in the dock.

Whenever there is a flood in north Bihar, all the leaders start chanting the Barahkshetra Mantra. They claim that if Nepal agrees to the construction of this dam, this dam would be built. Fifty years have passed but an agreement with Nepal is not in sight. If we start constructing this dam today; it will take about fifteen years to build. Do we have any interim plan to face these floods during this period?

We got the gift of the Kosi embankments in lieu of the Barahkshetra dam in 1955. After that, without any debate and without any preparation, almost all the major rivers of the state were embanked. We had only 160 kilometers of embankment length along our rivers and the flood prone area of the state was limited to 25 lakh hectares. Now we have 3,465 kilometer length of embankments and flood affected area has risen to 68.8 lakh hectares. The floods have aggravated over the years and we are all aware of the fact.

Now we have only the annual ritual of relief and the assurance of the Barahkshetra dam. The farmers have now found an alternative of migrating to Punjab and Haryana, leaving their own agriculture behind. That is the given situation to us and within those constraints what are the alternatives left before us or whether there is any alternative at all. We shall try to discuss these points in two days to come.

It gives me a great pleasure to find amongst us the intellectuals of the town, professors and teachers, advocates and students. the participants have come from places like Saran in the west to Katihar in the east. There are participants from Delhi and Bangalore too.

Barh Mukti Abhiyan welcomes you all and we hope that we will have a fruitful discussion today and tomorrow.

Prof. Jivaneshwar (Darbhanga)

Ganga Devi (Kusheshwar Asthan)

Md. Jamaluddin (Darbhanga)

Rameshwar Sah (Jhanjharpur)

Prof. V. N. Jha (Darbhanga)

Prof. S. H. Bazmi (Darbhanga)

Ram Swarth Choudhary (Darbhanga)

Dev Nath Devan (Madhubani)

Ramesh Jha (Madhubani)

Dev Chandra Anal (West Champaran)

Umesh Rai (Darbhanga)

Vijay Kumar

Jitendra Kumar (Saran)

Jadu Kumar Choudhary (Darbhanga)

Krishna Kumar Kashyap (Barheta-Darbhanga)

Kameshwar Jha (Madhubani)

Dinesh Kumar Mishra, (DKM) Convenor—Barh Mukti Abhiyan (Jamshedpur)

Q. There are many movements going on in the country like the Narmada Bachao Andolan or Bahuguna struggle against the Tehri dam. How is it that the Bihar Floods are not heard of at all?

DKM

: You are talking of the national scale and I have a feeling that we are not heard of even at the state level. We have tried to analyse the situation which I would like to share with you.

Firstly, we will have to look into the financial resources of the projects. Let us forget, for the time being, about the Narmada and look into the Subarnarekha Project of South Bihar. Some 26 villages and about 12,00 families were displaced there but the funding source was the World Bank. Now when you stand for these displaced families, you automatically stand against the World Bank and that, surely, is a news. If you are seen as standing against such a big institution, your size increases automatically. Sardar Sarovar has 1,29,000 displaced persons but was funded by the World Bank. There is an edge for the oustees. If the construction of the embankments in Bihar is funded by the World* Bank. tomorrow, you will find the whole world assembly here in north Bihar. We have all been meeting and discussing floods for a pretty long time now but nobody listens to us as you are pitted against the Government of Bihar which nobody takes seriously, outside. Volunteers from Saharsa and Champaran have gone to Subarnarekha project. Don't they see their own floods and waterlogging.

There may be over 20 lakh people trapped within the embankments of Bihar rivers, as on date. There are nearly 8 lakh people spread over 338 villages who are living between the Kosi embankments alone. An equal number must be facing acute waterlogging outside. If we take all the rivers of Bihar under consideration, the number will not be less than 30-40 lakhs. When we talk about the plight of the people trapped within the embankments and those living immediately outside in the area located south of the Ganga in our own state or elsewhere, we are charged of dramatizing things. How is it that 30-40 lakh people are facing such a hardship and no voice is raised, they ask. But the fact is that the voices are not raised and those who could raise voice have already left for Delhi, Punjab or Gujarat because that was easier for them. Our listeners further ask that if so many people are caught in a death trap, what is it that the government is doing to alleviate the sufferings of the people? The fact remains that the government is not doing anything. In case of higher education, for example, all that the parents are doing to educate their children is to send them to the colleges/universities of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, U. P., West Bengal or Delhi, be it by selling their land or by borrowing. But where is the protest that we are talking about? Those who could raise their voices have already taken an easier course.

Besides, whosoever comes to north Bihar he gets flabbergasted by the greenery of the area and the abundance of water which you don't find elsewhere. He goes over satisfied with the natural resources of the area. What can you do with the person who does not understand the difference between paddy and water hyacinth? We have been trying to show the water that lies underneath the green cover and tell our visitors that agriculture is not possible over such lands. But water gives a very pleasing effect to the eyes and the visitors becomes envious of our water wealth. He congratulates us that we have so much of water that the other state don't have.

The remaining sympathies of the visitors weans away when one talks about the corruption in the state and all the pending matters are set to rest. Is it a small or insignificant piece of information that people cut the Kamala or the Mahananda embankments? But it is reported casually and forgotten very easily. Can you take the event so lightly if it takes place in Maharashtra or Punjab? When you offer a Dharana at any project funded by the World Bank, that would become a national or international news. Our troubles are troubles and your trouble is a calamity? We are not heard because there is a feeling of ignorance for us in all the concerned quarters and those who matter think that where else will the people suffer, if not in north Bihar?

I have personally taken so many people to Ghonghepur, the southern tip of the Western Kosi Embankment and shown them the hell on earth and asked them if they have any remedy for the problem there. They think for while and then tell me that the problem of Ghonghepur is beyond redemption and then leave the place. After going back, these people don't write even a letter of thanks to me for taking them to Ghonghepur and showing thOm the hellish life style of the residents there. They shun contacts for the fear that I may request them to visit Ghonghepur again. Krishna Kumar Kashyap is here with us. Few years ago, he was based at Nadiyami when a team of Tata Energy Research Institute visited him to look into the availability and alternatives of fuel, Kashyap Ji took them around and extended all the help that he could. He also did not get a letter of thanks from them. Rajendra Jha of Saharsa also entertains many visitors who do not keep in touch. What can we do in such cases?

Vijay Kumar:

The common understanding of the calamities in different states is also very funny. I don't mean to belittle the suffering of the people anywhere. But the cyclone of Andhra Pradesh (1996) that killed 1685 persons, destroyed slightly over 7 lakh houses, and the damaged crops over an area of 22.47 lakh hectares was declared a national calamity while no one turned up to us when, in the flood of 1987, some 1600 people died in our state, 17 lakh houses were damaged and the crops were damaged over an area of 25 lakh hectares. Somewhere, it lies in everybody's mind that the Biharis persons are the fittest to suffer.

Ram Swarth Chowdhary

: It is often said that if the rivers with surplus water are linked to those with deficient flow, the problems of flood and irrigation would be solved. DKM : There were two such proposals made some 25-30 years ago. One was the garland canal of Dastur, under which a canal was proposed within the country at an elevation of 350 meters. This canal was supposed to have been linked to the rivers with surplus water which in turn, could be linked to the rivers with deficient supplies. This plan was prepared by a pilot officer and engineers had doubts over the viability of such a project. This plan shot into prominence because Indira Gandhi had shown interest in it.

The other proposal was of a national grid of rivers that was prepared by Dr. K. L. Rao. This plan envisaged construction of a barrage near Patna and divert some 3,000 cumecs water of the Ganga from here and most of it flowing towards south after crossing the Vindhyas. Dr. Rao was himself an engineer and when he had proposed this grid, he was the minister of irrigation at the center. This plan also is impractical but just because Dr. Rao was the minister of irrigation and was an engineer too, no engineer or the leader had the courage to discard the plan. The plan was consigned to cold bag because the estimated cost of such a project was put at Rs. 24,000 crores in early seventies. The country was not in a position to spend such a huge sum then and it is not in a position to spend it even now. The ghost of the national grid plan still haunts the leaders and the public whenever there is a major flood in the Gangetic basin or a drought in the south. Sometimes this ghost rides engineers also.

Otherwise also, if a flow of about 3,000 cumecs, whether it is taken from or added to the flow in the Gangetic basin during the rainy season is not of much consequence. Dr. Rao was a very ambitious engineer and he had a great role to play in the sanctioning of the Kosi embankments in 1950s. It was only after this that most of the north Bihar rivers were embanked. Today if we are criticizing the embankments, some blame of it also goes to Dr. Rao. The national grid was also a similar scheme for which we neither had the resources nor the capacity. The political will power was also lacking and it would not have been very easy to handle the net work of the canals. We, in Bihar, can say this with greater confidence because our canals have never been in good shape.

There is an autobiography of Dr. K. L. Rao titled, The Cusecs Candidate'. He has written in this book that once he was on a visit to the Bhakra Project, in 1964, in the capacity of the minister for irrigation. He was invited by the oustees of the Bhakra Project to visit their settlements. He accepted the invitation and visited the village. He was shocked to see the appalling living conditions in the village as he knew that the villages are usually widespread and without any congestion. But this settlement was compact and congested. The houses were just a single room shed and other amenities were all missing. Dr. Rao asked the villagers if he could do something for the village? The villagers then requested him to provide electricity in the village. Yes ! Dr. Rao was talking about the same Bhakra Dam Project which provides electricity to a vast area and all the praises are showered on this project when dams are discussed in the country but the people displaced by the project were asking for electricity from the minister. Dr. Rao assured the villagers that this was a small matter and he will arrange it for them. When he came back, he asked the Chief of the Bhakra Beas Board to extend power line to the village and to his utter surprise the Chief told Dr. Rao that there was no provision in the budget for such extension and this could not be done. Despite the orders of the minister, the power connection could not be given to the villagers. Dr. Rao has described this incident with anguish but Dr. Rao did not remember the Kosi Project then where he was instrumental in pushing over 2 lakh population (1951 census) spread over 338 villages, between the Kosi embankments, in permanent darkness.

Q. There has been a vast change in the river profile in north Bihar following the earthquake of 1934. After the earthquake, the Kosi has shifted towards west and the other rivers like the Kamala and the Adhwara have moved towards east. After independence, the rivers of this area were embanked and that has led to the aggravation of the flood and waterlogging problem. What is the alternative left before us? Will it not be proper that the embankments are removed and the rivers are given a free passage. A beginning can be made by removing the embankments from Hayaghat. If the flood water is drained out, the agriculture will improve, education will back on rails, employment position will ease and an overall development of the area will find some footing.

Vijay Kumar

—This is a very broad question and we must discuss it freely and in detail tomorrow. Let us listen to Prof. Prasad and we will break for the day.

Dr. Yogendra Prasad

—I have just taken the charge of the Water Resource Development Centre at the Patna University last October and I have no hesitation in saying that we are all responsible for the flood situation that has been created for us today. We must repent for the sin that we have committed. I have been teaching engineering for past 37 years and will retire next year in the month of December. Although, I have never participated directly in the process of preparing syllabus for the technical education but I am in full agreement with the ideas that have been placed here regarding the technical education. Our technical education encourages us to look towards Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, New York or Washington but it never induces one to look towards our own villages or the society. That is the reason why we have not been able to reach to the roots of the problems faced by us if something serious is not done in time. The situation will deteriorate further in future.

We once believed the British engineers and then expressed our faith in our own engineers but there was no let up in the sufferings of the people. I have heard the echo of that mistrust here. I have also been associated with another institution of the Government of Bihar The Educational Research and Training Board and I have some insight into the primary education also. But the question is where do we go from here? We have with us the problem of floods, loss of agriculture, and that of unemployment. We know, we had thirty thousand varieties of paddy and we are now left with few hundred only. How did that happen? It is a matter of common concern to us.

While we are discussing here about the problem of floods, agriculture or the livelihood; the political parties and the governments formed by them are busy thinking about the issues which would benefit at best one per cent population of the country. They talk about information, communication or entertainment. India is now going to become a superpower. India is now entering the cyber age. But what happens to our villages? Malaria will be on the rise, there will not be potable drinking water, there will be diarrhea, the people will not be able to come out from their houses for four months and the people will be forced to migrate and so on. Now we will make Bihar out of Delhi. Otherwise also, the number of Biharis have swollen so much in Delhi that we are now in a position to influence the election results. Despite that, we are not in a position to explain our position to the leaders.

This is possible only when we improve our strength. No outsider will come to our rescue. We should try to strengthen our organisation and force the governments to listen to our views. We should make our own plans and get them executed. This will be possible by the participation at the local level and then only it can become sustainable.

6th April 2000

Ansar Ahmad (Student Water Management-Darbhanga)—

The flood is a natural problem which has its bad impact on us but at the same time it is also beneficial to us. The fertility of the land is rejuvenated due to floods but villages after villages get submerged in floodwaters, crops are lost and communication is badly hit, pollution increases and the dreaded diseases spread. To prevent all this dams should be built on the rives. The polluted water should be tested before use and lot many diseases can be controlled, thus. The magnitude of floods has increased these days and there is a decline in the moderation of floods that the tanks did earlier. This has forced the water to move towards settlements and fields. We must take up programmes to drain the water out.

Rajesh Kumar Jha (Jamshedpur)

- Our friends from Chhapra told us something about the waterlogging in their area. The agriculture has been affected adversely in those areas is well understood but there may be a crisis for the safe drinking water in future because the waterlogging causes the dissolved salts in groundwater to rise to the surface. The plants absorb ground water through their roots and the transpiration process of the plants continues all the time. While the water travels to the atmosphere, the salts remain over the ground.

Eucalyptus trees can help easing the waterlogging conditions in such areas. Its wood also is very useful. The state of Haryana has tried to solve its waterlogging problem by resorting to the use of such vegetation and it can be tried here also.

Satendra Prasad (Saran)

-I have come from the land of 36 Chaurs. Waterlogging is acquiring devastating proportions in our area. Waterlogging was the problem in past even but the fields used to get cleared before the sowing season of the Rabi crop. The situation has aggravated because of the construction of the embankments on the Ganga and the Ghaghra and blockade of the drainage line by the Gandak Canals. The waterlogging in our area is so acute that no NGO or even a group of them can do anything and hence we expect that the government should do it on a priority basis. There is another problem that we face. When water spreads over a field, the owner of the field loses the right to fish over that land and this leads to unnecessary social tensions. Our area has produced so many chief ministers but nobody worked for the benefit of our area and we are now convinced that without struggle nothing will happen. We have formed a Jal Jamav Virodhi Sangharsh Morcha and have come here to seek cooperation from you in our endeavour.

Arun Kumar Singh (Naugachhia-Bhagalpur)-

We are sick of the floods in Naugachia:This is located between the Kosi and the Ganga. Some twenty years ago, the floods used to visit us at an interval of two to three years but now it has become an annual event. All the speakers here have decried the embankments but that is what we need precisely. Ever since these embankments have started breaching, our situation has become worse. We grow banana and after the floods of 1987, it gets inundated due to the breaches in the embankments. The embankments should be raised and strengthened so that they don't breach as the breaches add to waterlogging and a series of diseases. Our situation is entirely different and if you hold such a meeting there in Naugachhia, you will get an opportunity to understand our plight.

Kishore (Katihar)-

I have come from the Mahananda basin in the district of Katihar. The Mahananda was embanked in 1970 and the breaches in the embankments started taking place since 1974. On the 13th of August 1987 we had cut the embankment on the Ganga near Manihari and that led to the drainage of floodwater. The curious thing was that the embankment was cut under the supervision of Shri Yuvraj, our former M. P., who himself had struggled a lot to get the Mahananda embankments constructed.

We were trapped for months in the floods of 1998. The same thing was repeated in 1999. We can now cultivate only the hot weather paddy and the input cost of it is so much that not everybody can afford to grow it. This is very costly and the migration is at its peak. Migration is now not seen as a bad thing because if a farmer grows paddy, in say 50 Bighas of land, his input and output balances. He also is not in a position to save anything. The labourers who migrate outside, at least, save something.

We are lying in a corner of north Bihar and are at the receiving end of all the water that passes through the state. Whatever good or bad happens here, we are there to face the consequence of it. We are, also facing the consequence of the Farakka Barrage because not much of water is passing through this barrage these days. Tremendous sedimentation is taking place near the Farakka Barrage and the Ganga is becoming shallower and shallower. The Mahananda is unable to discharge its water into the Ganga and the floods are getting permanent. We are now compelled to join the crusade against the Farakka Barrage and leave the fight against the embankments, for the time being.

Our struggle against the embankments is quite old. As I told you earlier that these embankments are breaching since the day they were built but a decisive turn took place in 1991, when the embankments were cut by the irate villagers along with the breaching on their own. But the government used to get the embankments plugged. In 1996, The Mahananda embankment was cut at three places in the Kadwa block of the Katihar District and it goes to the credit of the local population that it did not allow the embankments to be plugged. We shall not allow the government to plug it in future either.

The embankments have pitted the people against each other. Those who are residing on the countryside of the embankment are technically a protected lot but they only face the risk and the aftermath of the breach in the embankment. There are people living on the riverside of the embankment, too. If the embankment remains intact, those on the riverside become in secured and try 'to cut the embankment and that spells a doom on to the people on the countryside. In 1996, we resolved all the differences of riverside and the countryside and cut the embankments at three places. Now, if the Mahananda rises, its water passes off slowly. All these points are located on the right embankment of the Mahananda and people are thinking to cut the left bank embankment also so that the flood water is spread evenly. We have to see what the people decide. We are waiting for the left embankment to breach on its own so that we do not have to make any efforts. In that case all that we will have to do is to stall the plugging.

Kamal Kumar Jha (Darbhanga)-

Our society belongs to two distinct groups. There are believers and non-believers. If we take nature as another source of power then we are bound to get a bashing if we work against the nature. Famines, floods and killer pollution—these are all the results of tampering with the nature. I have seen the floods of 1987 and I agree with your assessment of the situation. Because of geographical reasons, north Bihar has been an area of floods. The flood area, however, is on the rise. The river beds are rising slowly because of sedimentation and the river spills more often than before and so the floods are also increasing. If the kind of attention that is being given to the embankments and expenses incurred on their maintenance is diverted towards cleaning of the rivers, the results might have been better. This could have generated more employment. At the moment, the water stays even up to six months in certain areas.

Our Water Resources Department gets active only when the floods have hit us. There is no action before the floods. There is no check on deforestation. Dr. Thakur is s minister of water resources at the center and we should try to discuss things with him. May be, he is of some help.

Chandra Mohan Mishra (Darbhanga)-

I come from the Adhwara group basin and my village is in the Hayaghat region. We suffer floods for six months a year and the crops are ruined on a permanent basis. People want to get rid of the embankments and the government wants to retain them. We must view the flood question in totality. The embankments have not yielded the desired result and the river beds are on the rise. Instead of getting panicky at the time of floods, we should now try to prepare ourselves to face the floods. And then we should put pressure on the government to give us a permanent solution.

Karnaiesh Jha (An Nagar-Darbhanqa)—

I have seen the good old days and with the grace of Mother Kamala I am seeing the present days also. Traditional floods are treated to be better than drought. We might be producing coarse variety of rice in past but the yield was certainly much more. All that has finished. Now if the water enters our villages, it stays there for four months and it does not give anything in return: People used to repair the embankments collectively earlier but that collectivity also is lost now. Somebody has robbed us of all our good things--these are the leaders, engineers and the contractors. If you involve others in solving your problems, this is what it will result in.

Embankments have no utility in Mithila. Take them to the places where these are useful. The ML.As and MPs cannot solve our problems and we will have to do something on our own.

Mithileshwar Jha (Madhubani)-

There was a very big meeting in Jamshedpur in the month of January this year. The flood of Mithila was discussed there also. Hence to say that nothing is happening at the awareness level will be misleading. The people are getting more and more conscious and the officials are also trying to read the writing on the walls in the changed circumstances. There is not much dearth of funds also. There is now a possibility of working on small rivers, streams, nullahs or Chain with the help of the Panchayat level funds. Only thing is, one has to remain alert. Part of the Panchayat funds are earmarked for irrigation and drainage. Hence, at those levels, funds are accessible.

We have discussed here the utility of the embankments. There are many small and big rivers in the Sonbarsa and Parihar blocks of the Sitamarhi district. I have seen that the crop yield is tremendous in the areas where the rivers are not embanked. Once, a central team was to visit the area to see flood damages and this was the place where a very good crop was standing and the collector was worried as to what he was going to show to the team. My contention is, just don't build embankments for building sake. Remove them where this is not needed or is creating problems. If one knows what is best at the local level then is easier to take decisions.

Binod Kumar (Jhanjharpur)-

We are working over the flood issue since 1987. That time, we were just beginning to analyse things. Then we came in contact with Mishraji. We tried to put the flood analysis before the leaders and the engineers then but they used to call us mentally deranged and never took us seriously. Once all the villagers assembled near lsarain Chaur, in 1995, and cut the left embankment of the Kamala. There was big turmoil and the police also swung into action and, slowly, the matter was laid to rest. After the floods, we observed that huge quantity of soil was deposited near Nirmala village in a strip of 5 kilometer in width and eight kilometer in length along the embankment. The area where waterlogging used to remain year long, emerged out of water. That year in 1995, the farmers of Nirmala sold green gram worth Rs. 1,30,000 after keeping it for their own consumption.

After that, the government plugs the Kamala embankments every year and we demolish them. Actually, what all problem is there, it is because of the Kamala embankments. Floods used to be there in our area since time immemorial but its level never used to exceed 2 feet. After 2-3 days even that used to disappear. The embankments have added to the depth and duration of the floods. We try to nullify it by cutting the embankments.

The solution to the flood problem does not lie in raising and strengthening of the embankment. This will increase the problem. Desilting of the river is impractical, it will benefit the leaders, contractors and the engineers alone. The people in our places say that the embankments are like a bow. Stronger the bow, greater is the killing power of the arrow that comes out of it. Remove the embankments and we will take care of ourselves.

Ram Lakhan Jha (Madhubani)-

Given the background of the polluted social atmosphere, I must congratulate you for thinking aloud for the good of the people and holding this meeting. The so called scientific development of today is the killer development. This is not the development of creativity. Modern science has thrown gloves at the nature by tampering the rivers but it has neither the capacity nor the willpower to respond to the bounce of the nature. The engineers tried to tame the rivers in order to control floods. The floods returned back with vengeance in form of manmade calamity. Just use of technology can reduce the miseries of the people but technical scheming cannot achieve this objective. We had taken out a rally following the floods of 1987 demanding prevention of floods or the demolition of the embankments. We did a conference also that was inaugurated by Bhavanand Jha, a retired chief engineer. That was the time when the engineers accepted that the embankments were the root cause of the floods. This part of the debate is sorted out long back.

Now, what is happening with the Western Kosi Canal? I dare say that this canal is not irrigating our fields and it will never be able to do that in future also. This canal breaches every year with the impact of the rainwater. What will happen when a full supply depth of water will pass through it? We are also worried that should a breach occur in the Kosi embankments upstream of the Birpur barrage, the Kosi might occupy the western Kosi canal channel.

You should be passing a resolution in this meeting and ask the government to tell the stated objectives of the Western Kosi Canal and the present day status of it. What is the extent of the targets met and what will be the future of the canal.

Along with the question of the floods, the question of justification of the Kosi canal should be raised. If that happens, we will all join you and fight to our might.

Surya Narayan Thakur (Madhubani)-

When you go to purchase a medicine from a shop, you always find the date of expiry marked on it. I remember that when the embankments were built, the government had put an expiry date of 25 years. Twenty years have passed after this expiry date was over. What else this medicine will do other than killing the patient. We bury the expired medicines in ground but what should we be doing with these embankments. Where do we get the Ravana or the Kumbhakarna to do the job for us. The embankment that was built in our area was 16 feet high. Half of it has got filled because of the rise in the river bed and the remaining half has drilled holes in it by rats and foxes. There are Chaurs that have attained the size of thousands of bighas and we don't have anything to do. When we don't pay the land revenue, the government threatens us that it will issue certification. We are not worried by certification but take the body warrant a bit seriously. The government has converted our fields to Chaur. Take your land back and leave us alone.We are getting the proposals of raising or strengthening of the embankments and dredging of the river. This job the government is doing without our asking. If we also demand the same, what is the difference of thinking between them and us? There was a proposal to construct a tank in our village and it was said that all our problems would be solved subsequent to the construction of this tank. Then there was a complain that many children are dying by drowning in the tank and this should be backfilled. This also was done and the files were closed in the month of March. For heaven's sake, don't give such proposals here otherwise the people in government will feel very happy.

We have seen the fate of the embankments and we are yet to see the impact of the building of high dam in the Himalayas. What will happen if something goes wrong with that? When a person changes his mind, something always goes wrong and when the direction changes, it results in a lot of turmoil. So, please don't change the direction. How should we get rid of this expired medicine, let us concentrate on that.

The institutions which are engaged in relief, they also should start thinking afresh. Let us strike at the root cause of the evil. Treating the symptoms alone is not going to take us long way. This problem now should be raised at the national and international level both. At the national level, we should try to take our elected representatives into confidence. I am now ageing. Should you decide to sacrifice someone, I am available. Kindly take the lead. If you will spend sometime standing, I will stand for an hour more.

Mahabir Prasad Mahato (Pachahi-Madhubani)-

It is a long time that we are holding such meetings. The kind of awareness that has been generated following the cutting of the Nirmala embankment, is now self evident. I have been engaged in social work prior to independence and stand by you always. I had expected that Mishraji will announce some program this time but, it seems, that is not going to happen.

Dr. Gangadhar Jha (Darbhanga)-

Flood is the permanent problem of our Mithila and floods cannot be separated from here. We want a political solution to this problem. The others can neither understand the problems faced by us nor can give any solution to them. In the month of January this year, an International Maithili Conference was held at Jamshedpur wherein a separate Mithila state was demanded by the participants. I repeat the same demand here. For this, I propose that we should organize ourselves at the regional level and form a political party. We should try to bring out a daily newspaper or, at least, a weekly magazine and through that we should try to highlight the flood problem of the area.

Er. Anand Vardhan (Patna)-

The kind of ideas that are coming since yesterday indicate that the incidence of floods is on the rise despite the measures of flood control. This is established not only at the level of the society but the data available with the government also confirm it. The first thing is that no embankment has been completed along any river, so far the way it should have been. Then the embankments have breached at many places and those breaches are not plugged. The conditions that have been created at Hayaghat can probably be improved by constructing raised platforms. Widening of the rail bridge and opening of the mouths of the rivers like Shanti Dhar, the Ghoghraha Dhar and the Pachfutta Dhar may also help in relieving the drainage congestion. Ring Bunds can be constructed around the villages at the local level. These measures are better than tampering with the river. We should also make all the preparations before the occurrence of the floods.

Vijay Kumar

: I just want you to have a close look at the map of the Ganga basin. We have shown hem all the rivers of north Bihar, from the Ghagra to the Mahananda. Where the Bihar boundary ends and West Bengal starts, almost at that point, we have constructed the Farakka Barrage on the Ganga. Down this barrage, the Ganga bifurcates into two parts, the east flowing portion is known as the Padma and it flows into Bangladesh and the one flowing to south, is called the Bhagirathi which acquires the name of the Hooghly after it receives the waters from the Jalangi. The Hooghly breaks into many streams before it joins the Bay of Bengal near Ganga Sagar.

Lot many ideas have come about the rivers of north Bihar and I will not go into those details anymore and will concentrate over the Ganga. At the point of confluence of this river with the sea, we have the usual tides and sand from the sea tries to build pressure onto the river and enter it. This pressure from the sea used to be resisted by the flow of the Ganga along with that of the Damodar and the Rupnarayan. Thus, there was some sort of equilibrium between the waters of the river and the sea and everything was normal.

We established Damodar Valley Corporation and constructed four dams at Maithon, Panchet, Tilaiya and Konar together with the barrage at Durgapur. The dam on the Mayurakshi was also constructed. Water was intercepted and the floods started showing their ugly face because of the obstruction to the flow of water. The free flow of the river water was stopped. Earlier, the river water, with its full velocity, used to virtually dredge the river and reach the sea. After the construction of the dams, the flood waters lost their eroding capacity and the Calcutta port was endangered. Although, the Farakka Barrage was proposed long back, its construction became essential after the construction of the dams of the DVC. More water was needed to flush the bed of the Hooghly and, thus, save the Calcutta Port. This could be brought only through a diversion channel from the Ganga by constructing a barrage on it.

There was no rail bridge on the Ganga between Benaras and Calcutta. Bidhan Chandra Roy wanted a bridge on the river but the president wanted it to be located somewhere in Bihar and Mokama became the choice for the bridge. This was the time when Bidhan Babu raised the Farakka issue for if a barrage is constructed on the river, a bridge will be its obvious corollary. The barrage, thus, came into being.

Rivers have a definite role to play. It is their job to collect the waters from their catchment and deliver it to the next bigger river or to the sea. The portion of the Ganga River basin that we are referring to here has an annual rainfall ranging from 1500mm to 2000mm and a part of this is drained to the sea through the rivers. This is their duty assigned by the nature. The Himalayas are virtually a loose heap of earth. The river water brings this earth along its flow and spreads over the fields. This is another duty of the river. It enhances the fertility of the soil. As we go on constructing dams or embankments, the normal functioning of the rivers is hampered. The Farakka waters are now pushing backwards.

There are differences in opinion about the discharging capacity of the Farakka Barrage. Many engineers, and Kapil Bhattacharya was one of them, were not convinced of the utility of the barrage the way it was designed and constructed. Their apprehensions came true. Tremendous amount of silt got deposited in front of the barrage gates and the Ganga started getting shallower and shallower and its water started pushing backwards. Its first adverse impact was noticed in the Mahananda. The Mahananda is now unable to discharge its waters into the Ganga and its floods are now felt over a longer period. The erosion of the river banks have become more severe. Look at the Ganga at Patna. What the river is reduced to? We have also blocked the flow of the rivers by constructing embankments along them.

The distance between Barauni to Purnea is 203 kilometers and as you travel along the NH-31, there are only two bridges worth their names. over it, on the Burhi Gandak at Khagaria and on the Kosi near Kursela. How is it possible to drain such a vast area with such a high rainfall by these two bridges? Then the question of the rising bed levels of the rivers remains unanswered.

I had been to Nepal once, almost up to the Chinese border. Before going there, I had a feeling that because of deforestation or the faulty agricultural practices in Nepal, the silt load in the rivers descending down the plains is high. I told my views to my Nepali friends who contended that at best 10 per cent of the silt load can be attributed to this phenomenon. The rest 90 per cent of the silt load in the rivers is due to the geological activity and the subsequent landslides in the mountains. A small earthquake triggers landslides and, in the next monsoon, all the earth would come into the river. The road construction in the mountains also contributes significantly to the silt load. I have seen notice boards at various places in Nepal, cautioning people of the dangers of landslides ahead. Similar was the situation in the bed of the Bhot Kosi where I had seen huge deposits of earth ready to be transported by the river to our area. The same problem of silt is there in Farakka also. The sixth retired line in the Malda district over the Ganga is now threatened and we don't know how to protect it. The Ganga is trying to join the Pagla there and it may even bypass Farakka.

I also got an opportunity to visit the proposed site of the Barahkshetra dam. The land along the river courses is very fertile there and the villagers there, were very sensitive to the idea of allowing any dam to be-built there and would not debase themselves for the benefit of others. Dams are a very sensitive issue in Nepal and the political party like EMALE has split vertically over the dams. just by telling people that the dam is going to be built in Nepal and that would solve all our problems, is not going to help. In our country, however, all the political parties, from extreme left to extreme right find the solution to the problems for floods in these darns. They all look for the solution at other places. Why not solve your problem of floods without these dams. They all look for the solution at other places. Why not solve your problems yourself and on your land?

It will always better to look for a solution to the flood problem on our land and by our own resources.

Dr. Yogendra Prasad (Patna)—

Those who face the floods, understand their problems best and they alone can come out with the best solution. There are three main characters involved around whom the solution revolves—the government, the affected people and the voluntary and struggling organisations. The solution will come out when these three cooperate. When you think of a solution, please also think about the role of these three institutions. The people should be involved specially in the programs. We must look at the problem in totality, as Vijay Ji was also telling just now. You are doing a great service by taking up public awareness programs and acting as catalyst for explaining the social, political and technical intricacies.

The government should have a role of policy making and coordinating body. Shri Vardhan was telling that ring bunds could be made around the villages to afford protection at the local level. It is quite likely that you may have some field experience of the ring bunds and you may accept or reject the proposal based on your experiences. You should also assume the role of explaining these things to the politicians because it is they who take the decisions.

I also have a plan of mine to bring politicians, social workers, engineers, geologists and activists like you to a common forum in a workshop. If all such people could share a platform, it will facilitate the process of preparation of plans at the local level.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra (Jamshedpur)—

Many friends have some questions to ask and I will try to answer these questions according to my information and knowledge.

The first question is that the Kamala embankments breach every year on the eastern side but the western embankment is relatively safe. What could be the reason?

A close look at the different streams of the Kamala suggests that the river has had a tendency to move from west to east. The five maps that are available put the Kamala in the streams of the Bachhraja Dhar, the Jiwachh Dhar, the Sakri Dhar, the Pat Ghat Kamala and finally the Kamala -Balan. All these streams have successively moved from west to east. The Kamala joined the Balan in 1954 and the combined stream was called the Kamala - Balan and this stream was subsequently embanked. The tendency of the Kamala to move eastwards is, probably, still continuing and that may be the reason that the eastern embankment of the Kamala is more vulnerable to breaches. The topographical changes in the land profile following the earthquake in 1934, may have aggravated the process of shifting of the Kamala towards east. I am saying all this as a conjecture because I have no authentic information. Authentic information may be available with the water resources department of the state and we don't have any access there. They don't tell us anything and if we ask them for any information then they ask such questions that no self-respecting man can stand to them.

The second question is that can we produce electricity from the dam proposed on the Kamala at Chisapani. What impact this dam will have on the sedimentation downstream?

I would like to say once again that there have been studies on the quantity of sediments coming in the rivers but again the information is classified. We only have some idea about the sediment coming in the Kosi. The levels of the river bed were measured in 1962 and 1974 and based on this information the rate of the rise in the bed level of the river was assessed. It was found in this study that the river bed was deepening in a length of 3 kilometer down the Birpur barrage. This is understandable because the water released from the barrage, erodes the bed to some distance and the river bed is deepened there. Then on, the sediment deposition starts in the river bed. Between Mahishi and Koparia, the river bed was found to be rising at an annual rate of 12.03 centimeter (roughly 5 inch). If we assume the average spacing between the embankments as 10 kilometer, then between Mahishi and Koparia alone, some 5.6 million trucks-load of sediment is being deposited every year. If we try to assess the entire amount of the sediments in the Kosi, then it must be measuring 15 million trucks or so. This is the situation when the Kosi is embanked and its water is free to join the Ganga and a sizable quantity of sediments passes through that route to the sea.

It is something like this that if two persons hold my hands from either side and ask me to walk, I may walk although my speed would be reduced. But if a heavily built person obstructs me from the front and asks me to walk, I may not be able to move. It will not be possible for me to push such a person or even bye-pass him. Embankments and the dams behave something similar to this. A high dam will trap more silt than the embankment. The life of a dum is assessed depending on the amount of the silt that it impounds and when the reservoir is filled with the sediments, it is said that the life of the dam is over. A dam on the Bagmati was built in the last decade at Kulekhani, in Nepal and its life span was assessed at 100 years. In the floods of 1993, tremendous amount of silt came with the flow and the reservoir was greatly filled. It is said that the life of the dam is reduced to just 30 years. Should a flood like that of 1993 repeat in the region, it may just be possible that the reservoir is filled completely. Hence the risk of incoming silt and its adverse effect on the dam will always be there. Thus, now when we say that the floods come and they spread fresh soil over the fields and a bumper crop follows then we must remember that following the construction of the dam, this silt would be trapped inside the reservoir itself. Then the fertility of the land would decline and this is a historical fact. Wherever dams have been built, the fertility of the land has gone down.

This thing has a technical component also. You approach an engineer and tell him that the embankments are not being effective, could you please do something? He might as well tell you that the embankments were not the solution to the problem of floods in this region. The real solution lies in the construction of the dam in the hills and he will build the dam. The society has entrusted him that job only. It is not his job to enter into a debate with someone or listen to the woes of the public. Ask him what he is going to do if the dam is filled with silt. He would say that the dam is bound to get filled some day and when it is filled, we will see. The same thing was said in case of the embankments also that the day the embankments will not work, we will see. Unfortunately, that day has come but nobody is available from amongst the leaders, engineers or the contractors to reply to our questions.

If you ask the leaders today as to how this happened then they try to kill two birds with one stone. They say that constructing embankments is a sin and they did not commit this sin. The fact is, that the government has no money to commit this sin. They also say that when the embankments were constructed, some other party was ruling the state implying that it is the other party which is responsible for the ills of today and not they. If you ask the engineers the same question then they will say that this is a well known fact that the embankments are not the permanent solution to the problem of floods. The Kosi Technical Committee had already said, way back in 1974, that if the Barahkshetra darn is not built, the engineers should not be held responsible for floods, they say. This is the situation of those whom we had once trusted.

There is some relief at the moment about the proposed dams in Nepal. These dams, if built at all, will be constructed by the multinational companies. These companies are in business and don't enter into any loser's deal. If our respective governments have had the capacity to build these dams, they could have built them long back. Even otherwise, in our official setup, it is nobody's responsibility if any project does not give the desired result. By the time we will be in a position to ask some questions, the whole team would be changed. Are we not told today that those who built the embankments thought everything but not about the incoming silt. After the dams are built in Nepal, some fifty years from now, the same thing is going to happen again. They will tell then that those who built the dam did everything but they did not take afforestation seriously so that the silt load could have been reduced. Then they will carry on afforestation for thirty years and make merry.

The floods are not going to disappear even after the construction of the dams. The British have kept the records of the shifting of the Kosi since 1723 to 1947. In 1723, the forests were intact from the Terai to the foot hills and beyond. The British axe had not fallen over these forests then but the river was known to have changed its course. If one raises these questions then the politicians will pose blank and there is a likelihood of the engineers responding by saying that the Himalayas are a loose heap of soil and this is a highly seismic area. The vegetation cannot hold the soil and that is the reason why the rivers carry a lot of silt and change their course. Now, the question is that by constructing the dam will you be able to prevent the earthquakes? And will the earthquakes spare the dam? They do not have answer to these questions nor they want to think about these useless things. They, like the Arjuna, see only the eye of the bird, the Barahkshetra dam; to hit. They neither have the dearth of excuses nor they will ever lack works to do.

The third question is of Shri Kameshwar Kamati about the utility of the ring bunds. I would like to add that in this method, the river is left free but the villages or the towns are encircled by a bund so that the floodwater is kept away from the settlements. Nirmali and Mahadeomath are the two towns that were ring bunded in Bihar. This construction was completed in the fifties of the twentieth century along with the construction of the Kosi embankments. The settlements that are protected by ring bunds often come within the current of the river flow and the process of the land building by the river takes place outside the ring bunds. Since the river is free to wander now and its flow is not constrained as was the case with the embankments, the silt gets deposited outside the ring. Its rate of deposition is comparatively less but it does not stop altogether. With the passage of time, when enough silt was deposited outside the ring, the demand for raising the ring bunds comes from the people. If the bund is raised, the settlement within the ring proportionately goes down and its vulnerability to the floodwaters of the river rises. It, by some accident, the ring bund breaches, the people will not find time to react to the situation and will face the deluge. There is a very interesting comment by Capt. G. F. Hall, former chief engineer of Bihar (1937), about the ring bunds. He said that the ring bunds are good as long as they stand firm but once they give way, they become the cause of death of those for whose protection they had been constructed.

Apart from that, the rainwater which falls within the ring, does not allow the people within the ring to live in peace. This water cannot be taken out without pumping. When the ring bunds were constructed around Nirmali, three pump houses were constructed here at three different locations to house the pumps of 49 horse power capacity each. There is no trace of one pump house, the second one has just its platform left and only the third one still operates. Boats ply in Nirmali in monsoon months. The anti-flood sluice that was used to drain the water out, could not be closed in 1981 and the flood water had entered the town through these gates.

In Assam, ring bunds are constructed around Dibrugarh in the form of letter 'C'. Here also the situation is virtually the same as in Nirmali and the rainwater has got to be pumped out annually. Army has to be called out regularly in order to save the town.

There are ring bunds constructed around the towns of Azamgarh and Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The flood water that entered the town of Azamgarh, in 1976, stayed there till a fortnight.

Today we don't have the persons amongst us who had built the ring bunds around Nirmali and those who are now responsible for the protection against floods are standing in the posture of

'...what can we do?”

The fourth question is about how to utilize the floodwater in a better way. Yes, we do have surplus water in the rainy season. Have you heard about the Watershed Management Program (WMP)? Its first principle is to arrest the raindrop that falls on the ground at the same place. The rainwater should be used locally first and then only it should be allowed to proceed further. Those who profess this at the top of their voice, they only talk of leading the flood water to somewhere else—give this water to the deficient areas. That is the paradox. Why should that be done? Supposing we have surplus water in some season, would that mean we should send it to, say, Chhotanagpur because that is a deficit area whether it is practical or not. Or, if there is some extra water in the Ganga, should that be sent to the Cauvery which was the dream of Dr. K. L. Rao? And who will decide whether we have utilized the water that fell on our land and whether it is surplus for us?

The reports of the irrigation department of Uttar Pradesh suggest that some 37 per cent of their run-off goes waist. But at the same time, they also caution the readers that no one should conclude that it is the surplus water of the state.

There is a big drama going on in the name of watershed management in our country. This entire program is based on the assumption that the trapped drop of rainwater will seep through in the ground and retain the moisture of the land and part of it will seep to reach the streams and then to the river or the sea. This happens most of the times but to say that this alone happens would be wrong. The local conditions may be different and nobody can say with confidence that a particular thing would happen everywhere. Should you raise such inconvenient questions that go against the stream, you will be advised by all concerned to withhold your ideas but nobody knows what will be the impact of these actions over a period of time.

I once traveled to Rajasthan with Dr. G. D. Agrawal, after the floods of 1996 there. We went to the basins of the Sahibi in Bharatpur and the Ruparel in Alwar. Some 27 channels are taken out of the Sahibi for the purpose of irrigation and a fairly good area is irrigated by that. The Sahibi ceases to exist in the Kamma block of Bharatpur district because of these canals. The river is virtually murdered. Dr. Agrawal was once seeing the map of the area sitting on the ground with the drawing spread before him. I was standing there in front of him. He asked me to tell the direction in which the river was flowing without bending. I could only see the lines and their width from that height and could not read the writings on the map. I told him whatever I could observe. Then he asked me to sit down and look at the map. The direction of the river appeared to be reversed when I saw the map sitting on the ground because now I could read the map and watch the directions also. What I felt were the tributaries of the river, were the canals taken out from it and the point that appeared as the source of the river was, in fact, the place where the river lost its existence.

Hence, when we talk about the use of water, we must bear in mind two things, (a) never ever lose the claim over the water that is legitimately ours, and (b) think in totality and just don't get carried away by slogans. There was an engineer named Peter Salberg who used to say that the product of the resources of the governments and the skills of the engineers is dangerous, at times. I will give you an example. Supposing I suggest to a person with huge wealth that I can make a building that will rest over a fountain. If he has the taste for such a venture and the requisite resources to spare, all that I have to do is to balance the weight of the building with the water pressure coming out through the jet of the fountain and it is a technically justifiable design. The building will rest over the jet of water. I will earn a big name along with that of the sponsors. Sometimes and someday in future, if anything goes wrong with the balancing forces, the building will come down crumbling. Excuses and explanations will found out that day. We should do only those things that are simple in nature and are sustainable and more so if our resources are limited.

The fifth question is that we had a very good system of tank irrigation in south India, especially in Tamil Nadu, which was managed very well by the local people through local resources? Yes, that is true and it is not only true for Tamil Nadu, it is also true for Rajasthan where we have had a community irrigation that was far more dependable than what we have today.

Without going that far, let us check it up in our own backyard. There was a village called Partapur near Jhanjharpur. This village, located on the bank of the Balan, was a very prosperous village some fifty years ago. There used be Sabhagachhi is a place of regional assembly where parents of brides-grooms, pundits and registrars assemble annually to settle marriages. This used to be a very important event here. This village is deserted now. In its hey days, the village had four tanks in it, one big and three relatively smaller. The bigger tank was located at the highest level and was linked with the Balan through a drain. The other three tanks were linked to this tank. When the rivers used to be in spate, the villagers used to open the drain and fill the upper tank first. Then the other tanks also used to be filled and the drain closed. Only the upper layer water of the Balan used to enter the drain and hence the coarse sand could not enter the drain and only the water with rich fertilizing silt could find its way into the tanks. The water in the tank was used for taking the Rabi crop. The wells in the village never used to go dry because of these tanks. Makhana and fishes were in abundance. Since the river was free, the flood levels would never rise over beyond 3-4 feet. On the Sankranti day of the month of Vaishakh (roughly April), all the villagers used to assemble to clean the tanks as a ritual. There was no Chisapani dam or the Kamala Canals there but there was no dearth of food grains and the life was smooth for the villagers. They had evolved their own systems and had full control over them.

The Kosi area was no different either. There were problems during the rainy season but they were bearable. The Kosi used to flow in 16 different streams, from Lachha Dhar in the east to Lagunia Dhar in the west and its flood levels never rose to killer depths. If there is a devastating flood in any area, then also there used to be good crops in the adjoining areas. There were paddy varieties that would grow in water depths up to 20-25 feet which were sowed and harvested with the help of boats. The people never watched the floods with curiosity or with a feeling of resignation in them. They had developed unmatched skills in binding these rivers in the Rabi season and diverting the river waters to their fields.

Here in Darbhanga, there used be an engineer called R. S. King. The British government had allocated Rs. 74,0001 - for carrying out relief operations in Madhubani following the drought of 1896. Instead of withdrawing money for distributing relief, King took only Rs. 10,000/- from this budget, repaired all the pynes in the area and cultivated 45,000 acres of Rabi crop. Otherwise also, this area is not known for famines arid never the prices of grains shot up here.

The sixth question is cannot we manage the floods instead of controlling them? That will solve most of our problems.

I must say, the phrase of flood management is very misleading. In 1954, when the first flood policy was announced in the Lok Sabha, Nanda had used the word flood control. The construction of the Kosi embankments started in 1955 and while these were proceeded with, there was a very bad flood in 1956. Then Nanda announced that it will not be possible to control the floods fully and the floods will have to be lived with and managed. Thus the Kosi embankment, from Bhardah to Marouna was constructed for controlling the floods and from Marouna to Bhanthi, it were built in the name of managing the floods. What I mean to say is, whether we call it flood management or flood control, we are doing the same thing. Now a days they are coining another phrase 'to live with floods'. This is a very good thing because there is no other way out. But then why does the government say that there is no alternative to the Barahkshetra dam and that is the real and final solution. Do you understand the meaning and implication of what you say? I was given the name of Dinesh Kumar Mishra by my parents. They could have as well called me Ganga Ram but will that change my character? I would remain just the same. Floods are managed by the people who have lived without any embankment, any Barahkshetra dam or any engineer for thousand of years and without any external support. We are surviving even when the ferocity of the floods has been changed from that of a cat to a tiger. Did any engineer come to ask you as to how did you face the floods of 1968, 1978 or the 1987 and more recently that of 1998. Now tell me who knows more to live with the floods. The problem is, they will come to teach us again, something that they do not know at all.

I will request you not to be misled by the names and brands and analyse things before you make an opinion. One Anna Hazare changed the complexion of the irrigation scene in the country. He is not an engineer but was an ordinary soldier in the army. May be, there is some Anna Hazare of the flood area sitting amongst us.

Despite all this, there is need for a debate over the issue of floods.

Dr. Sharda Nand Choudhary (Darbhanga)

- Floods come when the rivers spill their banks. The Himalayas, covered with snow, are located north of this place where we are sitting at the moment. The winds that blow in north westerly direction, hit these mountains leading to rainfall. The Ganga basin is located down these mountains in the shape of a shell. We are based at the north of the Ganga. The rivers descending down the plains join the Ganga but the topography of the land retards the process and the floods are seen.

The poverty in north Bihar is mainly due to this flood which is a natural calamity. It is not very easy to lead this water to the sea in such a way that it causes no damage. It is also not very easy now to adjust with this water. We cannot adjust with water when it rises to submergence level. We can then resort to certain measures which will ease the situation. One of the choices could be to join all the rivers, from the Gandak to the Mahananda, along the Nepal border. All the rivers don't get flooded simultaneously and hence, by linking them together, the flow in them could be adjusted.

Sedimentation in the bed of the rivers is causing their level to rise. These rivers could be desilted and the problem could be solved to an extent. We don't lack the manpower and desilting would create employment. The excavated earth could be used for making bricks.

There are only three bridges for draining of the north Bihar on the Gandak near Hajipur, on the Burhi Gandak near Khagaria and on the Kosi near Kursela. If the waterway through these bridges could be increased, the drainage position will surely improve.

We don't have flash floods in our area. It is not like Morvi where the dam had breached and thousands of people perished. Our floods are natural and linking the rivers would, surely, be useful.

Prof. Vidya Nath Jha (Darbhanga)—

I am not competent to talk over the problem of floods but I shall surely be talking about the tapping of our water and vegetative resources. We have very good variety of deep water paddy which can be taken up in the areas of deep waterlogging. Their yield is very encouraging. Researches are going on in the other countries regarding these varieties. It was reported yesterday that our country has had 30,000 different varieties of paddy to suit every condition of availability of water. Their number has come down to few hundreds now. At the moment, we claim that we are self sufficient in food production but the population growth is also continuing. The kind of production that was possible in Punjab or Haryana, has now been achieved.

We have seen the Green Revolution and have used the high yielding varieties of seeds. If the production has to rise now, what are the things that could be done now. The scientists now say that the seeds that we had abandoned, which could produce grains even in adverse conditions, should be brought back. As an extension, work regarding these seeds should be done in the flood areas. There are ample opportunities of growing Makhana in North Bihar, and that too in the Mithila region of it. This potential has to be tapped. Waterlogging is serious in Haryana but the soil there is not suited for the crop as we have it here. Our Makhana is far more superior to the Makhana of anywhere else.

Makhana, and the products possible from it, are yet to be researched. It is a very light stuff and it occupies lot of space and its transportation becomes very costly. This problem can be solved if it could be transformed to other products. Singhara also grows very well in water and has got a good market. The lotus, its fruits and the flowers, has a good market.

Water hyacinth is a big problem in our area. This is not an indigenous vegetation of our country. It is said that some English lady brought it to our country and it spread all over. Attempts were made to make paper out of it but failed. Then it found some use in the biogas plants and compost pits. But its real use is yet to be found out. Similarly, there is an aquatic weed called Ipomea, which contains 60 per cent protein. Tablets can be made out of it after processing it and marketed. Karmi is another aquatic weed whose production can be increased by giving different fertilizers. Experiments have been made in countries like China to enhance its production.

Let us also have a look about the fish production. We have not yet modernised our fish production. We have vast natural resources and ample opportunities to grow fishes. Scientists believe that it is possible to grow fishes ranging from 30-150 kilograms per hectare. The kind of natural capacities we have, we can easily go up to 1500 kilograms per hectare per year. We can also grow turtles and snails along with fishes. We had a very big industry of making buttons of shells at Mehsi in East Champaran. The industry is not dead but it is finding it difficult to survive competition from the modern products but they are putting up a tough fight. Then there is husk and straw of various plants and grains. This could be used as bio-fertilizer.

Thus, there are lot of undiscovered sources related to water and vegetative kingdom which are waiting to be tapped.

Dinesh Kumar Mishra (Jamshedpur)—

I have some questions more directed to me and it seems proper that we can discuss these now.

The first question relates to the desilting of the rivers. I had said yesterday that our rivers contain a huge amount of silt load in their flow. The earth estimated to settle between Mahishi and Koparia every year amounts to 56 lakh trucks-load. To maintain the river bed at today's level, this much of earth will have to be dug annually and the digging period will be limited to mid-December to mid-February as that is the only dry period available as far as earth digging is concerned. This would mean that some thirty seven thousand trucks-load of earth will have to be dug everyday and disposed to some suitable location. If these trucks are placed in a line, they will stretch to 265 kilometers which is the distance between Patna, the state capital of Bihar, to Mahishi. But the earth cannot be dumped in Patna, it will have to be taken somewhere else, may be to the Bay of Bengal. To take 37,000 trucks everyday to the Bay of Bengal and bring them back from there, we would be needing a very wide road, to start with.

When the deepening and widening of the river will be taken up, all the existing bridges will have to be extended. Desilting a tributary will have no meaning unless the master drain, the Ganga, is desilted. As long as the Farakka Barrage exists, the desilting of the Ganga will have no meaning because its concrete base will determine the level of the Ganga.

Let us assume that the Farakka Barrage is not there. The Ganga bifurcates into two streams below Farakka, the Padma that flows eastwards into Bangladesh arid the Bhagirathi that travels southwards, acquiring the name Hooghly, and finally joins the sea. Calcutta is located on the east Ialz.71ri; of the Hooghly. We cannot desilt Padma for political reasons but we can dig the Bhagirathi. If that is done, all the Ganga water will start flowing through the Bhagirathi/Hooghly channel and this Bangladesh will never allow to happen.

Supposing, we are able to excavate the Bhagirathi; Hooghly channel, its confluence with the sea is in a state of equilibrium and it will not take much time to restore the status quo. Desilting of the river is possible only in case the silt contents in the flow are very small or the stream itself is very small. In case of north Bihar rivers, desilting is simply ruled out.

The second question is of linking the rivers with the help of canals. Linking the rivers is confronted with the problem of displacement and rehabilitation of huge population because of the construction of the link canal. As far as my information goes, an attempt was made in 1882 in Orissa to link the Mahanadi and Brahman i through Birupa and the project had to be subsequently abandoned and no attempts were made later.

A similar proposal is there to link the Brahmaputra and the Ganga to augment the flow at Farakka. Bangladesh very strongly objects to the construction of this 324 kilometer long and 800 meter wide proposed canal linking the Brahmaputra at Jagighopa in Assam to the Ganga at Farakka in West Bengal. This canal is likely to displace some ten lakh people. Similar is the situation about the canal linking Sankosh to the Ganga. Our friends, who have come here from Sitamarhi, must have seen that attempts were made to divert part of the Bagmati waters, at Belwa, through the Belwa dhar between 1978 to 1989 and to rejoin the main river at Kalanjar Ghat. Every year the regulator at the Belwa dhar used to get washed away and the efforts were dropped. Suoh works are not very easy with limited resources.

The third question is a proposal to make the land of north Bihar plain and that is expected to solve the flood problem. This is a strange proposal and, I feel, is impractical. But this reminds me that when the embankment over the Burhi Gandak was being built in Samastipur, in 1956, its construction started on one bank and when the floods came that year, the floodwater was pushed on the other end. Obviously, the floods were unprecedented in those areas that year. There was a flood conference held in Samastipur to take the stock of the flood situation. A participant in the conference proposed to build a mountain like structure along the eastern coast of the country so that the Gangetic plains form the rain shadow area. All the rainfall would then take place in the sea and the north Bihar will be spared of the rains and floods that devastate it. Now, can we call this a solution to the problems faced by us.

When faced with the sunshine, the human beings discovered the umbrella and that is still continuing being used because of its sustainability. He could also have thought of covering the sun and it was also a method of dealing with the sunshine, but is it practical? The last question is about the impact of earthquakes on the proposed dams in Nepal and it is also mentioned that the dam building technique is now far more advanced than what it was 50 years ago. In that case what is wrong in building the dams there?

This is true that there have been advancements in the technology. But the issue of earthquakes is not resolved, it is still doubtful. In 1954, when the Kosi embankments were given a final shape, a question was asked in the Bihar assembly (22nd. September) as to why, instead of Barahkshetra dam, Kosi embankments are being built. The government replied through a statement of Anugraha Narayan Sinha that it was concerned about the safety and security of the people living downstream since the Himalayas are located in a highly seismic zone. Hence the dam would not be built there. Later the geologists also confirmed this apprehension. It is still anticipated that there is always a possibility of the repetition of the Muzaffarpur like earthquake (8.4 on the Richter Scale) in future and hence the proposed dams will always attract a debate.

Lot of controversy was observed in case of the Tehri dam. This dam might be under construction but the differences of the scientists are not resolved yet. Prof. T. Shivaji Rao, who was one of the members of the review committee of the dam safety was not happy with the design of the dam and wanted it to be reviewed. The dissenters also wanted that the cost of disaster preparedness and management, in case of the failure of the dam, should also become a part of the dam cost. If these things were included in the cost of the dam, the benefit cost ratio would reverse. But the government is government, the dissension of the scientists and engineers notwithstanding, it can always build the dams. As the situation stands today, the flood situation that is created for us now, the society faces it with its own resources, own strengths and own capabilities. The doles that are given to it from outside does not compare at all with the needs. Did the society know the price that it will have to pay in future when these embankments were being constructed? The engineers and the politicians are left with no role, at the moment, other than fooling the public in the name of the Barahkshetra dam. This, in fact, they have been doing for the past fifty years. Does our society know the point where the politicians and the engineers would desert it and it will have to face the consequences singly and on its own. Is the society geared up to this reality and if so, does it know the price of it?

Dr. Amarendra Prasad (Patna)

Last Session : Resolutions

Vijay Kumar (Joint Convenor-Barh Mukti Abhiyan)