Bihar under water: Why the state sees floods every year

What makes this portion truthful prone to floods? The answers prevarication successful Bihar’s geography, and a decades-old solution that has proved short-sighted.

Bihar’s geography

According to the authorities government’s Flood Management Improvement Support Centre (FMISC), “Bihar is India’s astir flood-prone state, with 76 per cent of the colonisation successful northbound Bihar surviving nether the recurring menace of flood devastation.”

Bihar is criss-crossed by some snow-fed and rain-fed rivers, putting it astatine the hazard of assorted kinds of floods.

The state’s Disaster Management Authority has categoried floods into 4 classes. The archetypal are flash floods, “occurring owed to rainfall successful Nepal, pb clip [time betwixt forecast and flood] is abbreviated (8 hours), receding of flood waters is fast.” Then are stream floods, wherever the pb clip is 24 hours and receding of flood waters takes 1 week oregon more. The authority’s website further says, “Class III: Drainage congestion successful stream confluence- pb clip much than 24 hours, lasting afloat monsoon play (i.e. receding of flood h2o takes 3 months); Class IV: Permanent h2o logged area.”

Districts successful northbound Bihar are the astir prone to flooding. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

A large crushed for the archetypal 3 kinds of flooding is that Bihar is located beneath Nepal, with its Himalayan rivers flowing down to the state. Because the Himalayas are a young upland scope with a batch of escaped soil, these rivers — Kosi, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Mahananda, Adhwara — are afloat of sediments. Thus, erstwhile the measurement of h2o increases owed to rains, the rivers rapidly overflow their banks.

The 4th class of imperishable waterlogging is due to the fact that of respective factors. As the Flood Atlas of Bihar, prepared by ISRO on with the cardinal and authorities governments, says, “The reasons of water-logging are spilling of silted tiny rivers, encroachment of drainage channels, embankment-induced waterlogging, and beingness of saucer benignant slump locally called Chaurs.” Chaurs are created owed to a stream changing people and deposition of its sediments.

This year, the flood has been caused by dense rainfall and flooding successful Nepal and merchandise of h2o from its barrage connected the Kosi river. Supaul, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, West and East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Madhepura, Purnea, Araria, Gopalganj, Kishanganj, Sheohar, Saharsa and Saran.

Embankments, and the Kosi question

Given that Bihar’s geography makes floods inescapable, solutions person been sought for decades. Among the much destructive rivers of the authorities is Kosi, known arsenic the ‘sorrow of Bihar’.

Soon aft independence, successful the 1950s, embankments were built on the Kosi to incorporate its flow. While they were seen arsenic a lasting solution, not lone person the embankments been breached respective times, they person created a caller problem.

“Embankments narrowed the people of the river. Thus, portion Kosi earlier had the enactment to administer its sediments, present it was successful a straitjacket. With obscurity for the sediments to go, the river’s furniture has been rising by astir 5 inches a year, making it much prone to overflowing,” Dinesh Kumar Mishra, convenor of NGO Barh Mukti Abhiyan who has spent decades moving for flood alleviation successful the Kosi belt, told The Indian Express.

This time, flooding is worse than the past fewer years due to the fact that the Birpur barrage, built connected the Kosi successful Nepal, released 6.6 lakh cusec of water, the highest successful astir six decades. On the Indian side, embankment breaches person been reported from 7 places successful 4 districts. Mishra said, “The embankments were built with a capableness of 9.5 lakh cusec of water. They are being breached adjacent with h2o discharge astatine a overmuch little level due to the fact that the stream is present shallower. As galore arsenic 380 villages prevarication wrong the embankments, location to astatine slightest 15 lakh people. They person nary flight from the yearly floods. The authorities gave them onshore for rehabilitation, but of the 1200 hectares, 570 were waterlogged.”

Effect of the Bihar floods

While Bihar floods whitethorn not effect successful nonaccomplishment of lives each year, their economical outgo is steep, if 1 looks astatine the harm to crops, infrastructure, nonaccomplishment of livestock, and distress migration extracurricular the state. The authorities authorities spends astir Rs 1,000 crore annually for flood absorption and relief.

Possible solutions

For decades, the connection of a dam connected the Kosi has been mooted, but since that volition necessitate Nepal to travel connected committee too, the program has not progressed. On September 30, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP person Samrat Choudhary met Union Jalshakti Minister C R Patil successful New Delhi, and requested the gathering of “an further barrage” connected the Kosi. The authorities authorities is besides considering a barrage each astatine Dagmara (Supaul) implicit Kosi, successful Areraj implicit the Gandak, and different implicit Bagmati.

However, the acquisition with embankments shows that engineering solutions mightiness not beryllium capable to hole the Kosi problem.

Anil Kumar Sinha, laminitis vice-chairman of the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority from August 2010 to September 2016, told The Indian Express, “There are 2 ways of dealing with floods — 1 is done structural solutions, which includes dams, embankments, etc., and the different is done non-structural solutions, which includes laws, policy, hazard reduction, mitigation, etc. In Bihar, due to the fact that its geography can’t beryllium changed, determination is simply a large request to enactment connected aspects similar capable warnings, speedy absorption times, consciousness and grooming successful dealing with floods, etc.”

The Flood Atlas of Bihar besides says, “There indispensable beryllium a realisation that minimising the hazard and harm from floods whitethorn beryllium a much rational mode of flood absorption alternatively than formulating structural measures on dynamic rivers specified arsenic the Kosi.”