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'Bihar is destined to die. Nobody counts us'
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Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi | September 02, 2008 10:46 IST
Last Updated: September 02, 2008 15:50 IST
"Who listens to us? Nobody. Biharis keep dying due Mobile Downloads
to floods, but nation doesn't take notice of them. I
know so many families in north Bihar who have lost Text 67333
their homes 14 times due to floods after
Independence. Then, so what? Does anybody care
for them? Do you know last year 960 people died due
to floods in North Bihar? Nobody reads news from Did you GIVE today?
Bihar. That is Dinesh Kumar Mishra. GiveIndia
Environmentalist and engineer from IIT, 62-year-old
Mishra adds poignantly, "Bihar is destined to die.
Nobody counts us."
Dinesh Kumar Mishra
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/02kosy.htm
Bihar. Kosi meets Ganga and there is no obstacle to flow of Ganga up to Farakka barrage in West Bengal.
One never knows exactly how many people have died in floods in Bihar."
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He says floods are harsh realities. He is fighting for the policy of prevention of flood and relief measures. Since
1984, Mishra has been advocating decentralized ways of coping with floods. He travels across India to educate
people, living on banks of rivers, about traditional flood management systems. He reminds people that they
have cultural ownership over rivers and any preventive or relief measures of floods should be people-
centric. Mishra, so far unsuccessfully, is trying to create a new paradigm of flood control.
Mishra says in 1984 he was asked to prepare a report by a friend on the floods at Hempur village in Saharsha.
Since then he had been witnessing year after year unbelievable human trauma due to floods in North Bihar
and elsewhere.
That year, too, the embankment on the Kosi had breached and more than 450,000 people were stranded.
Neither government nor political leaders had any idea about the floods.
He says without Nepal giving site to build a dam, India can not move further. The problem is that Kosi river has
too big a catchment area and that will face water logging. Nepal will try to save its side and its people in case
of heavy rains and will keep control of gates in it's hands.Even now, around 10 lakh people live between river
and the embankment area.
The slit of Kosi river is such that a big dam may not be a final solution, he says.
Even today, around 9 lakh hectares of land of North Bihar remains flooded every year.
More than 80 lakh people get affected even in normal years when heavy rains raises water levels.
He told rediff.com, 'Biharis are uncared for. Biharis who sit in Parliament are also not taken seriously.When
floods take away everything, more and more Biharis end up on the footpaths of Mumbai or Delhi [Images] or
Gujarat."
When they are pushed away from there, they will come back to face another flood.
Mishra has studied the micro and macro aspects of floods of Bihar.
To get a thorough knowledge, he parked himself in the National Library of Calcutta for a year. Mishra has read
debates over taming of the Kosi since British times.
He says, " Kosi's waters are not giving us as much problems as the slit that it carries. Because of slit, bed level
increases and along with it there is need to raise the heights of embankments."
But, that hasn't happened. This year even the repairs work could not happen. He says normally around
February technical advisory committee meets.The estimates are made, tenders are announced and budget
gets passed. But somehow these didn't happen this time, he alleges.
For the last few years, has tried to understand why the Centre and state governments back out in finding
permanent solutions of flooding rivers of Bihar. His extra-ordinary scholarly studies are available in his first
book Barh Se Grast (Those Afflicted by Flood)
Mishra has written books on Mahananda and Kamla rivers, too.
"There is no two opinion that the floods of this year is due to negligence. The repair work of embankments is
responsibility of the state government.Sometimes they are able to repair it and sometimes not, he says.
He says in 1963, 1968,1971,1980,1984,1987 and 1991 similar floods have come due to similar breach in
embankments of rivers in Bihar.
Mishra says, "Bihar is India's most flood-prone state. According to government figures, in 1952, around 25 lakh
hector area in Bihar was flood affected but now, 68.8 lakh hector of land in Bihar is flood-prone. In north Bihar,
almost 76 per cent of land is flood-prone."
When asked why TV footage and photographs show such stark poverty of the displaced, he said, "North Bihar
is one of the most-densely populated areas. There is too much pressure on land. More people depend on the
land then it can sustain."
"What is needed is a drainage commission. We are unable to drain out flood waters. That is our biggest
tragedy," Mishra says
Despite all the destruction over the years, he says, no solution has been found yet.
"Every time some decisive moment comes suddenly nothing moves further," says Mishra.
He argues, 'Probably, there are three factors behind inaction on part of the Central and state governments in
taming Kosi. If government decides to build a dam over Kosi, it can be built on the Nepal side only. Nepal will
gain through power generation but, it will have only one buyer for it. India will have only one seller. This option
of limited market is not encouraging for both sides to spend money on dam. Also, in the operation of dam,
power generation project and maintenance of the site there will be too much dependence on Nepal. The huge
project will be in entirely on a different land. Third, from point of view of strategic defence, it doesn't look like a
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/02kosy.htm
good idea for government."
Those who wish to help the victims can contact Dinesh Kumar Mishra at the following address:
The Convenor, Barh Mukti Abhiyan
Road No: 6, B Rajiv Nagar
Patna 800024
Bihar.
Mobile: 9431303360
E-mail: dkmishra108@gmail.com
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