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BIHAR’S FLOOD FURY; THE END

OF KOSI CIVILIZATION?
Om Prakash Yadav
BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION OF KOSI- Like
many other rivers of North Bihar, Kosi, i.e. the river of Milk,
which is better known as the sorrow of Bihar, gathers water from
Himalayas in Nepal. It is a Trans boundary river and flows
between Nepal and India. Kosi is also one of the largest tributary
of Ganga and after draining nearly 70,000 sq Km confluences into
Ganga near Kursaila in Katihar district of Bihar.
In Nepal, this river lies to the west of Himalayan peak, the
kanchanjangha and has seven major tributaries viz Sun Kosi, Tama
Kosi, Dhudh Kosi, Indravati, Likhu, Arun and Tamar. That is why
it is known as ‘Satpa Kosi’ in Nepal.
This river has earned notoriety since time immemorial due to its
unruly, turbulent and unpredictable behaviour. On an average, it
carries 70-80 million tons of silt every year and it is perhaps due to
this feature, it tends to change its course after a definite period of
time. This is also one of the most important differences between
Himalayan Rivers and Rivers of Europe or America. Many experts
are therefore, of the opinion that viability of high dams on any
Himalayan River is very bleak, because the heavy siltation makes
barrages useless after a period of time. Kosi has an average
discharge of 55,000 cusecs of water and during rainy or flood
season it increases as many as twenty times the normal and
therefore, assumes dangerous proportions. The speed and velocity
of current of this river is also very high, therefore the devastation it
causes it often unthinkable. This river is not very old and experts
say that it is not matured enough to settle a definite course.
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MAPPING AND OLD COURSE- First attempt to map the

meandering of this swift, fast and turbulent river was made by one
British surveyor named C.C.English in 1779. According to district
gazetteer of Saharsa, he tracked the course of Kosi since 1731.
According to maps traced during those periods, Kosi, in 18th
century used to flow near Purnea and in nearly three hundred years
it moved west ward from Purnea to Supaul. On the basis of this
inference, it is being said that the Kosi has come back to its 18th
century course. Experts say that over 250 years, Kosi shifts over
120 Kms from east to west and now suddenly it has reversed the
course exactly.
HISTORY OF FLOOD- Kosi and floods in Bihar have inseparable
history. This river has brought as many as hundreds of floods in
these areas. Some of the most devastating floods caused by this
river, which the history of Bihar cannot forget, are of 1954, 1963,
1971, 1984,1987,1991,1995 and finally 2008. According to records
available with the WRD, 8, 50,000 cusecs of water was discharged
from the river during 1954 flood. This is under these
unprecedented circumstances, the GOI thought to find a long
lasting solution to this problem. In order to tame this mighty and
uproarious river, the historic ‘Kosi Agreement’ was signed
between India and Nepal on 25th April, 1954. Gulzari lal Nanda
singed on behalf of GOI, whereas; Bir Shumeshwar on behalf of
Kingdom of Nepal. It was agreed upon that a barrage will be
constructed by GOI, which would be located about 8 miles
upstream of Hanuman Nagar town. After this agreement, the Kosi
barrage was constructed on a place called Bhimnagar and that is
why it is also known as Bhimagar Kosi barrage. It took seven years
(1956-63) to complete this barrage. According to terms and
conditions, the repair and maintenance of the barrage were also to

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be done by Indian side. For this purpose, project area land was put
on lease for 193 years by the govt of Nepal.
According to Article 13 of this agreement, the Indian
Government shall carry out inside the project areas in the territory
of Nepal such as the establishment and administration of schools,
hospitals, tramways, provisions of water supply, electricity etc.
Article 14 says that the Govt of Nepal shall be responsible for
maintenance of law and order in the project areas in territory of
Nepal.
In order to tame the turbulence, jacketing of this river was done
with construction of 39 kilometres long embankments from
barrage site to Chatra in Nepal. This jacketing directed the flow of
the river to the barrage and swift and fast Kosi was brought to
control to a great extent. Spurs (a diagonal structure to check the
speed of current and protect embankment) have been constructed
along the eastward embankment so that erosion or breach in
embankment can be protected.
BREACH IN EASTERN AFFLUX NEAR KUSAHA IN NEPAL-
the Jacketing of this river upstream barrage has been proving
disastrous because, yes, the direction of the flow could be guided
and controlled but it could not check the heavy siltation. As this
river carries heavy silt with it, in due course of time the bed of the
river became above the field itself. In fact this has been the typical
reason of flood every year in this area.
All previous floods in Kosi occurred due to breach in
embankments downstream the barrage, but this flood or
catastrophe as many people call it, is caused due to breach in the
embankment near Kusaha which is located upstream the barrage.

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According to reports available with sections of media, the signs of

breach in this east ward upstream embankment were perceptible in
the very first week of August itself. The current started eroding and
damaging the embankment between 12.10 and 12.90 Kilometres.
The officials of WRD say that the law and order situation in Nepal
has under gone a change and they were not getting required
amount of co-operation from the Nepalese authorities. They
justified their alleged inaction by saying that when the team of
Engineers visited the site at Kusaha, they were not allowed to work
and were forced to flee from the site. Gradually, the spurs near
Kusaha also got damaged and finally breached on 18th August,
2008 at 12.80 km point. This site was about 12 kms away from the
barrage, therefore within few hours waters flew into Indian
Territory. The river was in full swing and surging water widened
the breach up to 2 km of on the same date. Now, the water started
flowing through the breach and situation became such that on 19th
the Kosi barrage was almost empty. Although, the Engineers tried
to lessen and control the discharge of water through the breach by
opening 54 out of 56 sluice gates of the barrage, the current had
taken a different direction and this attempt also proved
unsuccessful. The roaring Kosi took east ward course from here
and entered into Bihar through Birpur. Within hours, the water
inundated Birpur, Belwa Bazar (Native village of ex. CM Dr.
Jagarnath Mishra), Chatarpur, Pratapganj, Raghopur and
Triveniganj of Supaul District. The surging water moved further
east south ward and engulfed areas like Farbisganj and Narpatganj
of Araria District. The direction of the flow was such, that its entry
into Purnea district was easily forecasted. This was exactly the
route; Kosi had been flowing in 18th century A.D. As the river
found no natural course in east-south downward direction, it got

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divided into many branches and entered into different areas

inundating and marooning them.
Within a week, the water inundated Narpatganj, Ghurna, Bela,
Basmatia and Bhargama Blocks of Araria District, Pratapganj,
Udhampur, Raghopur, Triveniganj and Chatarpur of Supaul
district, some areas of Kisanganj district also got affected. District
like Madhepura also came in the way of this river. Firstly
Kumarkhand, Udakisanganj, Bihariganj, Alamnagar,
Murliganj,purni, gwalpara, singheshwarsthan and sankerpur blocks
of Madhepura got badly affected and people got trapped in the
flood and on 27th August flood water entered the town Madhepura
itself. Situation in these areas are fast deteriorating and conditions
are becoming precarious. Official figure regarding death is only 50,
but the number of deaths would be much more than what anybody
would guess. It would not be surprising if the number of deaths
would be in thousands. In Purnea district, blocks like Bikothi,
Banmankhi, Rupauli, Dhamdaha and Amaur are either partially or
totally affected by this catastrophe. While moving east west
downward direction, areas like sonbarsha, sourbazar, Pataghat,
Banganwan and simribakhtiarpur of Saharsha district also
witnessed the fury of flood. The people lost lives, properties,
homes and perhaps everything.
Kosi confluences into Ganga near Kursaila in Katihar district,
therefore red alert have been sounded to evacuate areas like
kursaila, Barari, korha. Water in these areas can enter any moment
causing further destruction.
MAGNITUDE OF PROBLEM- the magnitude of problem is not
difficult to understand. About 20 Blocks of 6 districts are badly
affected. About 15 lakhs people are trapped in different places, and
they are to be evacuated immediately, otherwise most of them

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would lose their lives. Even if all such persons are rescued, huge
numbers of relief camps are required to be set up. The Total
number of population affected is about 10.20 millions.
Rescuing the marooned population, providing relief and arranging
rehabilitation is a herculean job, because almost entire
infrastructure has been destroyed. The State government has
neither the manpower nor the resources to meet this unprecedented
situation. The question is, that where will these camps be set up for
feeding 15 lakhs people. Carrying the entire population and
shifting them to distant and safer places is very difficult, rather it
seems impossible also. It is not an easy task to run relief camps on
such a large scale and for a pretty long time, because this situation
is likely to remain unaltered till October. Although, the PM and the
Home Minister made aerial survey of the affected as and declared
it as NATIONAL CALAMITY, rupees 1000 crore package has
been announced, 1.25 lakh MT wheat would be given for running
relief camps, the distribution of the relief on such large scale is a
huge problem. The changed course of the river has swallowed
millions of hectares of land and which are hardly going to
resurface even after the water recedes. As a matter of fact, these
inundated areas are technically in the river bed. Therefore, they
have lost their lands, houses, livestock, ponds, wells and above all
their dreams. The devastation of this magnitude is unheard in
modern civilization. In fact the entire Kosi civilisation is on the
verge of eclipse. Just imagine, how one crore people would be
rehabilitated in one go. What would be the cost of this
rehabilitation both in terms of money and time? Shifting such a
huge population is not an easy task. Many experts say that it is
possible to bring back Kosi to its original course, but bringing back
history is not a joke. Think of the situation if it does not happen.
What would be the fate of the erstwhile course? It would not be
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surprising if there would be sand dunes everywhere in the old

course. The miseries are knocking the door. It is simply a
catastrophe and nothing less than that. Bihar is going to witness a
pre- 1963 like situation when Kosi belt was known for draught and
famine. The pace of development of Bihar is going to come to a
grinding halt. The wheel of growth is reversed. Many would agree
that history is going to repeat itself. The irony is that the
international community is sitting quite and making no gesture.
The magnitude of devastation and destruction is such that no
government will be able to tackle it single handedly. The job is
enormous and response is very cool. This is the time to fight back;
Bihar is looking for help from all corners, all agencies and many
nations. The CM Nitish kr is struggling hard so are doing every
denizens of this ill fated state. Let helping hands come out and take
Bihar out of this National Calamity.