128. Anti-Erosion Works in Bihar

Bihar is geographically situated in such a way that it has many natural perennial rivers coming from the Himalayas through Nepal and Tibet. These rivers are mostly alluvial and therefore, unstable. The constant and unpredictable shifting of river courses (due to heavy silt load) cause every year untold loss and misery to millions. Long term measures like dam/storage reservoir for moderating flood is not possible at this stage because suitable sites are not situated in this state but it is in Nepal territory. Flood embankments in a length of 3430 km has been constructed so far along the rivers like Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla, Kosi and Mahananda etc. to protect an area of 29.16 lakh ha out of total flood affected area of 68.80 lakh ha. Many small Himalayan rivers have not been embanked or trained till now. These rivers are very much furious during the flood. Gigantic population growth, unplanned development activities (roads, bridge, culverts) carred by different government agencies have encroached the natural waterway, thus during flood it creates drainage congestion. Therefore, people are forced to live in flood or to face the flood menace every year. Though a lot of flood control works has been executed every year with the resource available for flood sector, people are not getting expected benefits. Methodology adopted in practice by the department for planning monitoring and construction of flood control works has been described here. However, the need for a comprehensive study on river behaviour, training and control has been felt in totality (basin-wise).