Floods Due to Rivers from Nepal
22 out of 38 districts in Bihar suffer from floods almost every year due to rivers coming from Nepal. All the districts of North Bihar suffer from floods almost every year due to rivers coming from Nepal. Therefore, Government of India is having continuous dialogue with Government of Nepal to construct high dams on rivers, namely, Mahakali, Karnali, Saptakosi, Kamala and Bagmati flowing from Nepal. There exists an India-Nepal Joint Committee on Water Resources headed by Secretaries from both sides to hold talks on bilateral water resources projects of mutual interest. In order to prevent spilling of flood waters in rivers namely, Bagmati, Kamla, Lalbakeya and Khando rivers, the Government of India is providing financial assistance to Government of Nepal for raising, strengthening and extension of flood embankments on these rivers to tie them with high grounds in Nepal. In addition, flood protection works of Kosi and Gandak Projects in Nepal territory are maintained by the State Governments of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively. These works are being supervised by Joint Committees having technical experts from both countries.
Recently, the Government of India has also agreed to provide financial assistance for construction of 19.86 km length of embankment along Gagan river in Nepal to close the breach and revive the original course of the Gagan river to prevent inundation in Nepal and neighbouring areas of Bihar.
Further, a Joint Project Office (JPO) was set up in Nepal in August, 2004 in order to undertake the field survey and investigation of Sapta Kosi High Dam Multipurpose Project and Sun Kosi Storage cum Diversion Scheme on river Sapta Kosi. The project, if implemented could mitigate the flood problems of North Bihar.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Water Resources, Shri Vincent H. Pala in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
SK/RS