Patna: Days after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced ₹11,500 crore flood mitigation plan, Bihar government has swung in to action mode to utilise the fund efficiently and manage excess water in rivers during the monsoon in accordance with the plan prepared by the Central Water Commission (CWC).
Additional chief secretary, water resources department (WRD), Bihar, Chaitanya Prasad held a meeting of engineers and proposed to set up a dedicated cell for fast-tract execution of the flood mitigation plan, which includes building a series of barrages/dams and linking of major rivers originating from Nepal to manage excess water in their course. Prasad, however, could not be available for his comments till the filing of this report.
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The plan, which also includes much talked-about Kosi-Mechi river linking project approved by the Centre in April 2024, was included in the Union Budget 2024-25 after the Union ministry of jal shakti discussed and approved the CWC proposal, which was submitted to it on July 9.
Waking up to repeated demand of the Bihar government and regular pursuance of the issue to manage flooding by rivers from Nepal, the Central government had on June 28 set up a committee headed by the chief engineer, CWC, Bihar, Amarish Nayak and also comprising a superintending engineer Mohammad Sohail Akhtar. The committed submitted its recommendation after holding a series of meeting with engineers of the WRD, a senior official of WRD said on Wednesday.
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The proposal also include construction of another barrage on river Gandak at Areraj in East Champaran, which is about 140km south from Valmiki Nagar barrage in West Champaran, building of a barrage or dam on Masan river—a tributary of Burhi Gandak—in West Champaran, a barrage on Bagmati at Dheng in Sitamarhi and construction of a canal from Kamala river from an under-construction barrage at Jainagar in Madhubani, construction of another barrage on river Kosi at Dakmara in Supaul and a barrage on river Mahananda at Taiyabpur in Kishanganj.
The WRD official said that construction of barrages on rivers Kosi, Mahananda and inter-linking of Kosi-Mechi rivers would also create huge irrigation potential in seemanchal, comprising districts like Kishanganj, Purnia, Araria and Katihar, which are so far been neglected in terms of irrigation network. “The Kosi-Mechi inter-linking project, entailing an expenditure of ₹6,300 crore, has already been given a national project status and the Centre has agreed to fund the project in 60:40 ratio. The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has prepared its detailed project report (DPR), which aims to provide irrigation to around 2.10 lakh hectare in the Seemanchal area,” said the officer.
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The state government’s plans of inter-linking of Kamala-Purani Kamala-Bagmati rivers and Burhi Gandak-None-Baya-Ganga rivers will also get a boost from the Centre’s flood mitigation projects for Bihar. “The Bihar government has been asking to manage floods by rivers originating from Nepal before Nitish Kumar took over as the chief minister in 2005. It was during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre when India and Nepal agreed to build high-level dams on river Kosi (at Barah Kshetra), Bagmati (Nunthor) and Kamala (Chisapani) in the Himalayan nation and set up a joint project office at Biratnagar (Nepal) to prepare the related DPRs in 2004. However, the DPRs could never see light of the day due to international issues. It forced Nitish Kumar to plan the flood management projects within the state’s territorial jurisdiction,” said the officer.
“The swearing in of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister with crucial support from the JDU in Lok Sabha helped the project getting fast-tracked. Former WRD minister Sanjay Kumar Jha’s elevation as working president of the JD(U) chased the proposals and held meetings with Sitharaman to get them cleared by the Centre,” said the official, adding that otherwise files of such projects were left to bite the dust.
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Apparently emboldened by the assurance of monetary support, the WRD officials are now awaiting formal letter from the Centre so that they could appoint consultants to get the DPR prepared. “WRD is the executing agency for all projects. We would seek to implement the projects as early as possible, as it would help the north Bihar regions to curb the devastation of recurring floods,” said the officer.
WRD minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary could also not be contacted for his comments despite several attempts.
