Unprecedented human migration and misery due to manmade floods

Unprecedented human migration and misery due to manmade floods

Preliminary findings of the Fact Finding Team on Bihar floods

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.