Bihar accuses Centre of serious lapses

NEW DELHI: The 'whodunit' over the havoc unleashed by the Kosi in Bihar has hit a crescendo with the state government shooting off a well-argued letter to the Centre, highlighting lapses on the part of New Delhi.
The sensitive communication, sent after Union water resources development minister Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav publicly held the state government responsible for the breach, argues that Bihar, being the Centre's "agent", had already completed all pre-monsoon anti-erosion civil work on the embankment by June 15.
But repeated requests made by the state for major civil work, need for which was being felt since February 2004, was ignored by a tight-fisted Centre, which has the overall responsibility for the upkeep of the barrage and the embankment. Satellite images show the river's flow was already hitting the embankment at Kusaha since 2004 after a massive landslide in Kosi's catchment area in Nepal in 1979 had totally altered its morphology.
This made revetment and construction of a pilot channel most necessary but the Kosi High Level Committee (KHLC), headed by chairman of the Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC), did not approve the work for effective strengthening of the embankment which finally breached on August 18. The charge is serious because KHLC also has the director of Pune-based Research Institute (CWPRS), member (flood) of Central Water Commission and two representatives of the Nepal government on board, besides Bihar engineers. These experts ignored the 2004 satellite images and did not consider strengthening work necessary.
"The KHLC drastically slashed the sanction for a proposal prepared by the site engineers for anti-erosion work of the East Kosi afflux bund. As a result, the vulnerable point at Kusaha could not bear the pressure of the river," the Bihar minister said.
The Centre also described a 2007 proposal for de-silting the beds of rivers flowing through Bihar as not feasible. The Bihar minister said the Centre gave "economic costs" higher weightage over "cost of human lives". Under the rules, flood control work is "normally" to be done by the state but GFCC can get some specific work done on its own.
The Bihar government has now asked the Centre why it did not get such work implemented on its own if it was not happy with the state.