Bihar floods latest flashpoint in JD(U)-BJP ties

STATE IS LIKELY TO DISCUSS MEASURES LIKE FRAMING A NATIONAL SILTING POLICY, FARAKKA BARRAGE’S DESIGN WITH THE CENTRE

NEW DELHI: Flooding in various parts of Bihar threatens to emerge as the latest flashpoint between the Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the coalition partners in the state, with the Bihar administration planning to knock on the Centre’s doors again to seek implementation of a slew of measures, including framing a national silting policy and re-visiting the design of the Farakka barrage, which the state blames for annual floods.

According to people aware of the details, the Bihar administration will take up the flooding issue with the Union government over the coming week.

“On several occasions in the past few years, the state government has brought to the notice of the Centre how the Farakka barrage has become a reason for floods in the state, especially during the monsoon. The barrage is not designed to cope with the quantum of water that is now being released from its gates and there is no real-time data available for the same,” said a functionary aware of the details.

The barrage with 109 gates across the Ganga in Murshidabad district of West Bengal was constructed in 1961 and completed nearly a decade later.

Bihar’s minister for water resources Sanjay Kumar Jha told HT that he is hopeful the Centre would act on suggestions made by the state government. “Since 2017 we have drawn attention to certain issues that need to be addressed and we are hopeful that the government will act fast on these including re-visiting the design of the barrage,” he said.

Heavy silting for one has been red flagged as a major cause of concern. The state blames the Centre’s lack of policy for not carrying out routing de-silting exercises that could prevent the annual loss of lives and property attributed to the flooding. The functionary said it is estimated that the Ganga carries a silt load of 736MT annually, of which about 328MT gets deposited in the upstream of Farakka barrage. “We had petitioned the Centre to take action for the silt deposition caused by rivers flowing in north Bihar from Nepal as well as on account of Farakka barrage on several occasions in the past… Because of siltation, frequent submergence of Patna and Bhagalpur are witnessed year after year,” the functionary said.

The state blames massive shifting of river over the years because of siltation, saying even minimal discharge makes the water touch the danger level posing a threat to cities settled on its banks.

The functionary said, “The barrage was meant to release water from the Padma and the Brahmaputra into the Hooghly but has ended up increasing the silt in the river.” The functionary added the barrage was designed for a discharge of 2.7 maillion cusecs while the amount of water that is currently released is significantly higher than that. “In 2021, the quantum of water released was nearly 32 lakh (3.2 million) cusec. This design limitation results in Heavy siltation and flooding in the upstream,” the functionary explained.

The state has also flagged that many of the 109 gates remain closed during the peak flood season, pointing out that the gate operation is still not fully automated. It has also conveyed to the Centre that the barrage structure does not provide for adequate passage of silt.