Tragedy has once again struck Bihar due to floods. Know what will be the benefits of Kosi-Mechi project.
– Photo: Amar Ujala Digital
Expansion
The much-discussed Kosi-Mechi Link Canal in Bihar has suddenly come into limelight because after years of waiting, its construction was announced in this year’s budget and this year Flood also appears again in its old form She has arrived. The central government had started seriously considering the river interlinking scheme since 2004, but the Bihar government took the initiative on it in 2006. Along with this, the Center was requested to consider this link. The construction of this link canal will lead to development of agriculture in Kosi-Mechi area. The National Water Development Authority gave its detailed project report to the Bihar government in 2010, which was received back in the final form after corrections taking care of following the rules of the Central Water Commission. Since then, serious consideration started on the implementation of this scheme and now it has been approved. The path of getting funds from the present central government has also opened. The construction of this project will provide additional irrigation to 2.15 lakh hectare area in Kosi-Mechi Doab along with flood control. After the construction of this link, additional irrigation will be available in the districts of Araria (69 thousand hectares), Kishanganj (39 thousand hectares), Purnia (69 thousand hectares) and Katihar (35 thousand hectares) and this is the dream of solving the flood problem. Is also being seen. With the implementation of this scheme, it is expected that agricultural production will increase and employment opportunities will increase.
It has been made clear in the project report that through this river linking scheme, irrigation in this Doab will be possible only during the Kharif season, because it is not yet decided whether water will be available in this canal during the Rabi and Garma seasons. Not there. According to the report, arrangements for assured supply of water will be made only when the high dam on Kosi is constructed in Barahkshetra in Nepal. We would like to remind here that the proposal to build a high dam in Nepal was first made 87 years ago in 1937 and since then this dam has remained under discussion and study. Nothing can be said about when this dam will be built.
6300 crore rupees scheme
First let us talk about its cost. The cost of this scheme, which was initially Rs 2,900 crore, increased to Rs 4,900 crore by the time the Bihar government received the final report and now its value is said to be around Rs 6,300 crore. The Center suggests that the Center will bear 60 percent of the total cost from its side and the State will have to bear the 40 percent expense. Bihar says that the Center should contribute 90 percent of the amount and the state should contribute 10 percent of the amount. It is also said that the Center can suggest giving 30 percent of the amount as loan to the state. This entire matter is still said to be under consideration. In this scheme, the Eastern Kosi Main Canal (length 41.30 km) will be expanded to 76.2 km. It will be increased and merged into Mechi river, which will have the benefit of reducing the flow of Kosi slightly. At the end of the canal, only 27 cusecs of water can be released into the Mechi river, which can provide relief from floods in Kosi. This report assumes that Kosi and Mechi floods may not occur simultaneously, but if unfortunately this happens, questions will be raised on the usefulness of the plan. We are sure that the scholars who made the plan must have thought about this. The project report clearly states that this scheme cannot provide water for Rabi and other crops except in non-monsoon months unless water is supplied to Barahkshetra in Nepal on the river, 56 km north of Birpur on the Kosi. 269 meter high high dam is not constructed.
Barahkshetra Dam was first proposed 87 years ago in 1937. On September 22, 1954, while participating in the ongoing debate on the Appropriation Bill in the Bihar Assembly, Anugrah Narayan Singh had said – “It was being investigated for two-three years now that a dam should be built on the Kosi river, which would be 700 feet high. It would be high and a lot of money was spent on this investigation. Then it was found that a lake of 26 miles (42 kilometers) will be built in it, in which Kosi water will be accumulated and due to accumulation of water, there will be no flood… but the reason behind this is that It was thought that if that 700 feet dam bursts, the whole of Bihar and Bengal would be washed away by the water accumulated in it. Everything would be destroyed.” Something similar was said in the Lok Sabha by N.V. in the name of Barhakshetra Dam. Gadgil spoke on September 11, 1954, in which he discussed the impact of earthquakes on dams around the world. We hope that the government must have taken cognizance of these statements.
East Kosi Main Canal
As far as the Eastern Main Canal of Kosi is concerned, accumulation of sand in its belt had started since the time water was released in 1963 and by the year 2000, the canal was about to be closed. At that time this canal was filled with sand up to its full supply depth and it was becoming difficult to supply water into it. Then the issue of cleaning the sand of the canal arose. Till now it was fine, but the question arose as to where to throw this sand. The engineers working there said that until the sand is not removed from the canal, the canal will remain useless and water cannot be supplied in it. Somehow, the sand removal work started in late 2004, the estimated cost of which was Rs 54 crore. This work of canal cleaning continued till June 2005 with the help of 4,000 tractors. The government must know what its profit and loss were, but mountains of sand had definitely been prepared on both the banks of the canal. There was government land around the canal, so at that time the sand was dumped next to the canal, but if this work has to be done again, the sand of the canal will be dumped on the farmers’ land – this is certain. The investigation of this sand scandal is recorded in the reports of the 50th and 53rd Estimate Committee of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, in which named reports of misuse of government funds and corruption were recorded. The 53rd Report says, ‘…Thus, only a few cases of wastage and kidnapping of state funds have been mentioned in the Birpur division of the main Eastern Kosi Canal, on special investigation, thousands more examples will be found in this division.’ We hope that those preparing detailed projects will definitely be aware of this incident and people looking for opportunities in disaster will definitely be kept an eye on this time.
slope of land and perpendicular entry of rivers into the canal
The proposed canal will be crossed by several rivers in the 117 kilometer long stretch between Birpur and Makhanpur (Kishanganj), where the canal will terminate at Mechi. The main ones among them are Parman, Tehri, Lohandra, Bhalua, Bakra, Ghaghi, Pahara, Nona, Ratua, Kawal, Western Kankai and Eastern Kankai etc. There is no counting of small drains. All these rivers and streams flow from north to south, whereas the Kosi-Mechi link with its proposed extension will flow from west to east. The eastern main canal runs almost entirely in this direction, while the proposed new canal has some scope left as it turns a little towards the south. Obviously there will be problems in drainage of water. The proposed 117 kilometer canal will create a blockage in the path of water coming from the north and will increase water logging on the northern bank of the canal and will have an unwanted impact on the agriculture of that area.
Many villages like Basantpur and Chhatapur of Supaul district and Narpatganj block of Araria district keep getting submerged during the rainy season due to this stuck and broken water coming out from the Eastern Canal. This water reaches from Bishnupur in the west to Balua (village of Dr. Jagannath Mishra – former Chief Minister and Union Minister), Chainpur and Thutthi, Madhura to Bathnaha in the east and remains in the form of water logging for a long time. Is. During this period the people here suffer huge devastation.
A few years ago, the villagers of Dhanuktoli near Thutthi had cut the canal. These people knew that on Mondays the canal remains closed to flush the Kataiya power house and there is no danger of its water. Therefore, Monday is the most suitable day for cutting the canal. What happens is that in the villages of Lakshmipur, Mirzapur, Maudhra, Ragghutola, Milki Dumariya, Navtolia, Mangahi and Santhali Tola etc. of Phulkaha police station (Narpatganj block), the water stuck in the canal is drained through a siphon built on the Kajra stream. The bottom of this siphon is high, so it is not able to drain all the water. Due to water logging on the banks of the canal, the canal broke on its own in Mirzapur, but even after this the problem of the farmers on the northern bank of the canal could not be solved. People from there came to cut the canal to drain the water. To the south of the canal are villages like Gadhiya, Khaira, Chanda and Dhankahi of Narpatganj. These people would have been in trouble if the canal was cut. The canal became a kind of border and warriors on both sides came face to face with their weapons. The people of the North to cut the canal and the people of the South to stop it. The conflict escalated but the canal was cut. The case was litigated, the Panchayat sat. When the officers arrived, an agreement was reached and both sides assured that they would not cut the canal in future. We believe that such incidents will not recur.
Kusha embankment breach and main Kosi East Canal-2008 lessons learned from
It would also be interesting to know what happened to this canal when the eastern embankment of Kosi at Kusha was breached in 2008. On August 18, 2008, the eastern embankment of Kosi breached near Kusaha village in Nepal. At this place Kosi had come very close to the eastern embankment and had started attacking the spur there from the day of 5th August. Due to departmental inaction, that dam was allowed to break, because there was no less than 13 days time for the dam to break so that the embankment could not be saved. This much time is not enough to deal with any accident. When the dam broke, the water that came out from that crack also moved towards Birput Power House and broke the main East Kosi Canal at 13 km. A new channel of Kosi, 15 kilometers wide, was formed and wherever that water passed, it destroyed it. There was devastation all around and at least 25 lakh people came under the influence of the waters of this new stream. People of even Katihar had suffered the brunt of this flood. We believe that the technical group planning the Kosi-Mechi link must have been informed about this incident and must have taken cognizance of it and taken precautions.
The project report of Kosi-Mechi Link Canal admits that some areas in the region of Ganga and Mahananda are suffering from water-logging, but this is due to encroachment of the area by farmers and hence there is inconvenience in drainage of water. Now arrangements have been made to transport the water across the link canal. If the same work had been done at the time of construction of Kosi Eastern Main Canal, we would not have had to say all these things today. Still we believe that this work will definitely be done this time.
The report also suggests that rehabilitation of displaced persons should be done on priority basis. We are saddened by the fact that the work on Kosi project was started on January 14, 1955 and the displaced people there are still struggling for their rehabilitation. We are confident that this time the department will definitely remember its words.
– Dinesh Mishra
