The Bihar government has dashed off a distress letter to the Centre seeking its immediate intervention as Nepal has stopped the flood control work on its side at several places. As the monsoon has already set in, most rivers originating from Nepal and entering Bihar are already in spate and that has given rise to fear that major parts of north Bihar might get submerged if the flood control measures are not immediately initiated on the other side of the border.
Basudeo Ghimire, the chief district officer of Rautahat district in Nepal, has allegedly stopped all flood control work at Guawari village of Lal Bakey river.
At the Gandak Barrage, 18 pillars fall on the Indian side while 18 others are on the Nepalese side. Engineers, labourers, and flood control material need to be moved through the borders for the repair work of the embankments. At the barrage, barricades have been put in place by the Nepalese authorities thwarting any movement of material to the Guawari area, where repair work has to be done. This has raised apprehensions of major portions of Bihar being submerged in floods.
Earlier the District Magistrate of East Champaran Shrishant, Kapil Ashok, had sent a detailed report to the Ministry of Home Affairs and also the Bihar government on the repair work being stopped by the Nepalese authorities. Now the Nitish Kumar government has sent a distress letter to the Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs to immediately intervene into the matter.
Talking to the media, Minister of Water Resource of Bihar Sanjay Jha said, “Obstructions have been put in place by the Nepalese and we are not able to complete the repair work. If we fail, we may have to face devastating floods. This is for the first time that this kind of situation has arisen on the other side of the border. We have informed the Centre about the same and are hopeful that we will arrive at a solution.”
Way back in 2008, Bihar had witnessed devastating floods as Kosi breached its embankment in Kusaha in Nepal as even at that time due to local agitations repair work on the river’s embankment was hampered.
Most rivers originating from Nepal are already in spate. Gandak river registered a discharge of over 1.5 lakh cusecs of water and similar amount registered in Kosi. Every year flood fighting work is done by the Bihar government on the Nepal side to ensure the flooded rivers don’t bleach their embankment but this time the situation has turned adverse on the other side of the border.
The local authorities in Nepal are thwarting all attempts by Indian engineers to continue with the flood-fighting works. Meanwhile, Kosi has already flooded several low lying areas in Supaul district of Bihar.
“The repair work on the Indian side is complete and we have stocked enough flood fighting material,” informed Sanjay Jha. But approximately 500m of embankment needs to be strengthened in Guawari area which is being stopped by the Nepalese side.
The alarming situation has now given the Opposition to launch a fresh attack on Nitish Kumar. Tejashwi Yadav said, “What was Nitish Kumar doing for the last 15 years. Now the monsoon has already set in. He is just trying to find excuses and pass the buck. He is responsible for this situation.”