Unprecedented human migration and misery due to manmade floods

Preliminary findings of the Fact Finding Team

Nearly 73.06 per cent of the area of Bihar is prone to flooding. It is estimated that about half a million have migrated from the embanked Kosi region alone. In the face of mass exodus from the state, the resumption of flood control embankments aggravates the situation of countrywide condemnation and humiliation that migrant Biharis face. These structures have compelled them to migrate in search of livelihood.

A multidisciplinary 14 member Fact Finding Team has concluded its 8 daylong travel of the flood affected regions of North Bihar wherein it traversed along the embanked parts of Kosi, Kamala, Bhutahi Balan and Baghmati rivers.

The visit from March 1-8, 2008, entailed visiting Khagaria, Saharsa, Supaul, Saptari, Kunauli, Kamalpur, Mahadeo Math, Nirmali, Ghoghardiha, Kosi barrage, Runni Saidpur, Sitamarhi, Vaishali and other places.

The manner in which floods have been amazingly sustained in this region despite over five decades of relentless efforts have been the core idea behind this voluntary mission.

Backed by volume of secondary literature but limited primary exposure of ground realities, this team is anguished to conclude that not only are these floods manmade but that the worse is yet to come should the political economy of flood control continue to pivot itself around `temporary embankment' as the only solution to the scourge of floods. The state pretends that it is afflicted by the colossal ignorance regarding the primary function of floodwater--draining out excess water and the fact that no embankment has yet been built or can be built in future that will not
breach.

The team is outraged to report that the government's investment of over Rs 1600 crores since the early 1950's has helped increase the flood prone area from 25 lakh hectare during the pre-plan era to over 68.8 lakh hectare today, an unprecedented three-fold increase. Proposed as temporary measure to control floods in the 1950s and having had failed on all fronts, the team is bewildered to note that the business of embankment construction has resumed after a lapse of 17 years with a Rs 792 crores package to tame the Bagmati. There is another proposal to embank the tributaries of Mahananda at
an estimated cost of Rs 850 crores. Clearly, the lessons in human misery
have not been learnt.

That over 2 million people are permanently trapped between the flood control
embankments and an equal number of people faced with acute water logging in the so-called flood protected areas, only exposes the stark failure of the state's democratic governance. The team observed the inevitability of migration due to loss of livelihood that is a consequence of state's benign intervention and its callousness. This exposes the migrant Bihari population to the wrath of perverted political monsters in Assam, Maharasthra, Punjab, and Delhi. Sporadic incidents across the country demonstrate state's collusive inaction. The team is astounded to observe that the state remains a mute spectator to the denial of basic rights of livelihood and instead it accentuates their misery by pretending ignorance about the outdated, tried, tested and failed technology of embankments as if it is caught in a time
warp.

The team observed state's arrogance and misplaced faith in engineering that has stopped the natural process of `landbuilding' by these rivers, a process that had ushered in necessary socio-cultural conditions for emergence of `civilisation'. Need it be said that the marriage of natural capital and social capital had made Bihar the apex knowledge center. The total collapse of this knowledge culture within the state is a result of embankment of this capital.

The team notes that 8.36 lakh hectare of land in North Bihar is permanently
waterlogged, which is nearly 16 per cent of the North Bihar's total area. Some 8 million people have been directly hit by water logging, earning the state the dubious distinction of being the leading claimant of this kind of manmade submergence. Draining vast stretches of waterlogged land is technologically and financially unfeasible. Can any welfare state afford to keep its most fertile lands under water?

The team witnessed how the poor and the powerless are obviously the main victims. It emerged from the narratives of the villagers that embankments are for the benefit of the contractor politicians and the technocratic development ideology to deal with flood suits them unmindful of the environmental and social mess.

As the embankment lobby has gained momentum once again, the fact that such interventions will raise river levels by several meters, making the land between the embankments uninhabitable for millions of people displacing them for good. The bitter experience of flood control embankments has given birth to a strong sentiment against it.

The team shockingly wondered about the land use change that has adversely affected the ecosystem of the region contributing to the rupture of its carrying capacity. It makes a classic case requiring urgent measures to undo the damages that appear beyond redemption.

The team examined the impact of flood control measures and the trends in consequent losses in the region. The team has inferred that migration is an indicator of the enormity of glaring state failure. Embankments remain the main loss-determining factor. The team calls for a white paper on the impact of existing embankments.

Those living today in the flood-affected region are promised other ecologically disastrous projects like Barahkshethra Dam and Interlinking of Rivers is like proposing one catastrophe to solve another a la devil and the deep sea.

The observations made by the team are its preliminary findings. The final and detailed report of the Fact Finding Team would be shared in due course.

by

Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Sudhirendar Sharma & Gopal Krishna