After over 4 lakh cusecs of water were discharged from the Kosi barrage following heavy rain in the catchment areas of Nepal, the Bihar government on Monday sounded alert for flood in districts of north Bihar.
“The last time we saw a higher discharge of water from the barrage was in 1989, when 4.72 cusecs of water were released. As it is always in Kosi areas of northeast Bihar, this has been due to torrential rain in the catchment areas of Nepal,” State Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha told media persons.
He also added, “However, the department officials and engineers are on alert and embankments are being patrolled round the clock. People can also reach out to us through our call centre by dialling the toll-free number”.
The discharge of 4.62 lakh cusecs of water from the Kosi barrage was done late on Sunday night at Birpur in Supaul district and this has been the highest for a day in nearly three decades, the Minister said. Inundation of land tracts is expected in adjoining districts of Saharsa and Khagaria by Tuesday, Mr. Jha added.
The State government has been preparing for the possibility of flash flood for over a month and people residing in low lying areas and close to embankments have been relocated to safer places. People living in flood prone areas of northern districts of Bihar have been requested to move to safer places in view of heavy discharge of water from the Kosi barrage.
In 2008, severe flood in Kosi region had claimed nearly 500 lives and millions of people were affected.
“It was the worst nightmare what we saw in 2008. We lost our everything, from house to farmland. The government, though, had made arrangements by putting up relief camps and distributing food but how can the government make up human loss?,” asked Shivnandan Yadav of Triveniganj in Madhepura district. However, Mr. Jha said “People should not be worried as there is a greater level of preparedness this time”. “Though, the water discharge recorded at the barrage this time is far greater than it was in 2008 but, we’re better prepared now”, he added.
The District Magistrates of Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura and other northern districts of Bihar are also keeping vigil on flood prone areas and have started evacuating people from low lying areas. “People are being evacuated from low lying areas and from villages close to embankments. We are also in touch with village heads for the purpose”, said Supaul DM Kaushal Kumar.
Similarly, Saharsa District Magistrate (DM) Vaibhav Chaudhary said, “We expect nearly 300 hundred villages to be affected in the district by flood and we’re making preparations accordingly”.
Earlier in June, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had asked officials to make all arrangements to tackle flood-like situation in north Bihar which has witnessed flood regularly for the last several years.
