Engineers ill-equipped to plug Kosi breaches

NEW DELHI: Plugging the breach in Kosi embankment that unleashed havoc in Bihar is proving to be a massive challenge which the state government���s engineers would find difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish.
So much so that the defence forces, specifically an organisation like the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), seems to be the best agency to undertake this task, provided it agrees and gets a free hand.Else, the work can be assigned to some other central agency.
State water resource department engineers have hardly undertaken any major construction or maintenance work during the past two decades. This has made them lose touch with what should be done in a crisis like the one facing the Kosi embankment.
Although former technocrat Nilendu Sanyal, who heads a committee to suggest means to plug the breach, has held that it is a ���possible��� task, field engineers say that���s only a ���theoretical��� truth.
Considering the state���s recent history of total lack of any landmark water engineering accomplishment, the assessment is not an exaggeration. ���Engineering is a practical science and continuous work is its lifeline. The Bihar engineers cannot turn into an efficient workforce overnight as the government itself has not assigned them any real work for years. There is an acute shortage of experienced contractors too with many of them switching vocations,��� said a senior engineer.
Gandak project is the only major multipurpose scheme Bihar has completed since independence. Leave aside the Kosi West Canal project, schemes like Durgawati, Baghmati, North Koel and Swarnarekha (now in Jharkhand) have been languishing for decades.
The only major scheme to be partially completed in recent times is the Jamania project, which falls in the home belt of Jagdanand, who was the state���s irrigation minister for 15 years under Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi. The Ganga Pump Canal at Chausa was, however, an exception as it was completed on schedule.
Experts said the situation was such that despite Nitish Kumar���s wish, any work to plug the Kosi breach ��� and forcing the river to flow through its original course ��� could not begin before December when the water recedes.