Villagers use a country boat to travel through floodwaters. (AFP)

Patna, Aug. 27: As the raging waters of the Kosi ravaged more areas of north Bihar, questions abounded on why precious little has been done for the past half-a-century on taming the mighty river which “only God” can rein in when in spate.

“It is not a routine flood. It is a pralay (deluge) threatening to obliterate the existence of a large part of north Bihar on the Indo-Nepal border,” chief minister Nitish Kumar said today as he appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to rush relief for the marooned millions.

Nitish’s agony sums up the very nature of the flood caused by two breaches in the eastern embankment at Kusaha in Nepal. The river described as Bihar’s “shok (sorrow)” has been ferociously flowing in different directions, gobbling hundreds of villages spread in five border districts in its newfound channels that are widening daily.

The flood this time is different because unlike rainwater, which recedes, the devastation has been caused by the changing route of the river.

The breach, which took place on August 18, has widened the spread of the river to 325km instead of 250km.

The flood has so far claimed at least 47 people and trapped nearly 12 lakh in Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, Araria, Katihar and Purnea districts. Four helicopters and 400 country boats are working overtime to ferry people and material to “safe destinations”.

The forecast for the next few days looks grim with heavy rain beating down the river’s catchment areas in Nepal. “It is well nigh impossible to plug the breach,” said a water resources department engineer. “Only God can tame the mighty river on rampage,” he added.

But sources said the devastation could have been avoided had the government taken action in time.

Under the 1954 agreement between the governments of Nepal and India, the eastern embankment was built in 1959. Around 59km of the embankment falls in Nepal, while 211km lies in Bihar.

The Bihar government’s water resources department is supposed to repair and maintain the embankment in Nepal and India with funds granted by New Delhi.

Subsequent Bihar governments have said repair and maintenance of the embankment suffered in the last 15 years because of the “violent” Maoist movement in Nepal. “Owing to the law and order problem, Bihar engineers were wary of working there,” said former chief minister Jagannath Mishra.

The 1959 treaty also laid down that dams would be built on the Nepal side to check the water flow, but so far none has been planned.

Sources pointed out that a lot of money has gone down the drain instead towards building bungalows and rest houses in the region. For instance, the state government has two spanking rest houses at Balmiki Nagar on the Indo-Nepal border that serves more for the “recreation” of the state’s VIPs rather than maintaining vigil on the barrage and embankment.

The sources recalled that the last major repair and maintenance work on the embankment took place way back in 1993. “The situation turned grave this year with the turbulent river changing its course and in the process breaching the embankment already weakened by the lack of repair work at two places,” said former state water resources minister Jagdanand Singh.

 Copyright © 2008 The Telegraph.