Decoding proposed Kosi-Mechi River Link Canal project: Dr. Dinesh Mishra

Long Awaited Project for Irrigation and Flood Control

Kosi-Mechi link canal has suddenly come into the limelight because after years of waiting, its construction has been announced in this year's central budget. The central government had started seriously considering this river linking scheme long back in 2004, but the Bihar government took the initiative in 2006 and requested the Centre to consider this link. It is said that the construction of this link canal will lead to the development of agriculture in the Kosi-Mechi region. The National Water Development Authority (NWDA) gave the detailed project report of this project to the Bihar government in 2010, which was finally given to the Bihar government after modifications keeping in mind the compliance of the rules of the Central Water Commission and after that, serious consideration began on the implementation of this scheme and now it has got approval of the centre and the path to get funds from the Centre has also opened. With the construction of this project, additional irrigation will start on 2.15 lakh hectares of area in the Kosi-Mechi Doab. After the construction of this link, Araria (69 thousand hectares), Kishanganj (39 thousand hectares), Purnia (69 thousand hectares) and Katihar (35 thousand hectares) districts will get additional irrigation and the dream of solving the flood problem has also begun. It is hoped that with the implementation of this scheme, agricultural production will increase and so will the employment opportunities in the area.

6300 crore scheme

Let us first talk about its cost. The cost of this scheme which was initially Rs. 2,900 crores had increased to Rs. 4,900 crores by the time the final report was received by the Bihar government and now its cost is being said to be around Rs. 6,300 crores. The Centre has suggested that it will bear 60 percent of the total cost of the project and the state will have to bear the rest 40 percent. Bihar hopes that the Centre should contribute 90 percent of the amount to the state and the state will bear the rest. It is also said that the Centre can suggest giving 30 percent of the amount to the state as a loan. This entire matter is still being said to be under consideration. In this scheme, the Eastern Kosi Main Canal EKMC (present length 41.30 km) will be extended by 76.2 km and merged with the Mechi river which will have the benefit of reducing the flow of the Kosi to some extent. At the end of the canal, only 27 cumec water will be released into the Mechi river, which may provide some relief from floods in the Kosi valley. This report assumes that the Kosi and Mechi will never flood simultaneously, but if by chance it happens, then the usefulness of the plan, as far as floods are concerned,  will be under question. We are sure that the scholars who made the plan must have thought about this situation.

The project report also suggests that the extent of irrigation between the Kosi-Mechi Doab  is possible only during the Kharif (rainy) season but for the seasons of Garma (hot weather) and Rabi (winter crop), it will only be possible after the construction of the Kosi High Dam in Nepal. It must be remembered that the proposal for a dam on the Kosi was made in 1937 and the negotiations for its construction are still on between the Government of India and Nepal where the site of the dam is located 56 km north from the Indo-Nepal border at Birpur in India.

Eastern Kosi Main Canal

As far as the Eastern Main Canal (EKMC) is concerned, the deposition of sand in its bed began when water was released in the canal in 1963 and by the year 2000, the situation had reached such that the canal was filled with sand up to its full supply depth and it was becoming difficult to convey any water through it. Then the matter of cleaning the sand in the canal came up. This was not a difficult job but the question arose as to where to dump this excavated sand. The engineers working there maintained that unless the sand is removed from the canal, the canal will remain useless and water cannot be supplied through it. Somehow, the work of removing sand started at the end of 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 project authorities must have calculated the benefit-cost ratio of this venture before going ahead with the removal of sand from the canal bed, but mountains of sand had definitely dumped on both sides of the canal. The land around the canal belonged to the government and that permitted the authorities to dump the sand right next to the canal, but if this work has to be done again, then the sand from the canal will be dumped on the land of the farmers, this is certain.

The investigation of this sand scandal is recorded in the 50th and 53rd Estimates Committee reports of Bihar Legislative Assembly, in which named reports of misuse of government funds and corruption were mentioned. The 53rd report says that, '... In this way, only a few cases of wastage and embezzlement of government funds in the Birpur division of the main Eastern Kosi Canal have been mentioned, although thousands of more examples will be found in this division on special investigation.' We hope that those who prepared the detailed project will definitely know about this incident and this time those who look for opportunities in disaster will definitely be kept under watch.

Slope of the land and crossing of  small rivers through the link  canal

Between Birpur and Makhanpur (Kishanganj), where this canal will merge with Mechi and end in its’ 117 km journey to the Mechi,  many rivers will cross this proposed canal and the main ones being the Parman, Tehri, Lohandra, Bhalua, Bakra, Ghaghi, Pahara, Nona, Ratua, Kawal, Western Kankai and Eastern Kankai etc. There is no count of small drains. All these rivers and drains that flow from north to south, whereas Kosi-Mechi link along with its proposed extension will flow from west to east. The EKMC almost completely flows in this direction, whereas there is some scope left in the proposed new canal because it turns a little towards south in its last reach. Obviously, there will be problems in rainwater drainage in the proposed 117 km. The main canal will become an obstacle in the path of rainwater coming from the north and waterlogging will increase on the northern bank of the canal and this will have an undesirable effect on the agriculture of that area. Some siphons have been constructed in the EKMC  for draining water on to the other side but their performance have been dismal. This is going to aggravate in future if not taken care from the beginning.

Due to this water getting stuck and breaching of the EKMC, many villages of Basantpur and Chhatapur of Supaul district and Narpatganj block of Araria district keep getting submerged in the rainy season. This water hits EKMC from Bishunpur in the west to Balua (village of Late Dr. Jagannath Mishra-former Chief Minister of Bihar and Central Minister), Chainpur and Thutthi along with Madhura to Bathnaha in the east and remains in submerges state for a long time adding to immense problems  of the local people.

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 was the most suitable day to cut the canal.

What happens is that in the villages of Lakshmipur, Mirzapur, Maudhra, Raghutola, Milki Dumriya, Navtoliya, Manghi and Santhali Tola of Phulkaha police station (Narpatganj block of Araria district), the water gets stuck along the canal as the siphon built on Kajra Dhar fails to drain the water to the other side of the canal. The bottom of this siphon is high, so it is not able to drain out all the water that gets stuck along the northern bank of the canal. The canal breaches automatically in Mirzapur, but even after this the problem of the farmers on the northern bank of the canal could not be solved. The people from that side came to cut the canal to drain out the water. To the south of the canal are the villages of Gadhiya, Khaira, Chanda and Dhankahi of Narpatganj. If the canal was cut to drain the water out, the people of these villages would be in trouble. The canal became a kind of border and the warriors on both sides came face to face with their respective weapons. The people from the north wanted to cut the canal and those from the south wanted to prevent it. Those from the northern side succeeded in cutting the canal. Cases were filed, panchayat was held. Officials came and then a compromise was reached and both the parties assured that they will not cut the canal in future. We believe that such incidents will not be repeated now and the officers are aware of their obligations.

Crack in Kosi embankment at Kusaha and main Kosi Eastern Canal-2008

It would be interesting to know what happened to this canal when the eastern embankment of Kosi breached at Kushaha (Nepal) in 2008 on 18 August 2008. At this place, Kosi had come very close to the eastern embankment and it had started hitting at the spur there from 5 August itself. Due to departmental inefficiency and carelessness, that spur was allowed to get eroded because a gap of 13 days was not small to prevent the total erosion of the spur and subsequent breaching of the eastern Kosi embankment at Kusaha.  After the breach of the embankment at Kusaha, the river water that came out of the gap moved towards Birpur Power House and it broke the EKMC at 13th kilometer. A new 150 meter wide stream of Kosi was formed and wherever that water passed, it devastated the place. There was devastation all around and at least 25 lakh people were affected by the water of this new stream along with various streams of the Kosi south of the EKMC. People up to Katihar suffered the brunt of this flood. It is  believed that the technical group preparing the Kosi-Mechi Link Project was informed about these incidents and they have taken cognizance of such incidents and taken all precautions.

The project report of the Kosi-Mechi Link Canal accepts that some areas in the Ganga and Mahananda region are suffering from water logging but the reason for this is encroachment of the area by farmers and hence there is inconvenience in the drainage of water. It is claimed that arrangements have been made to take the water to the other side by crossing the link canal. Had this been done at the time of construction of the EKMC, then today we would not have to say all these things. Still, we believe that these precautions will definitely be taken this time. The report also suggests that rehabilitation of the  displaced people should be done on priority basis. 

We are saddened by the fact that the work of the Kosi Project was started on January 14, 1955 and many of the families trapped between two embankments of the Kosi are still struggling for their rehabilitation. We are confident that this time the department will definitely remember its words before embarking on the construction of the link.

The writer is the author of कोसी नदी की कहानी: दुइ पाटन के बीच में and बंदिनी महानंदा