Government Programmes

A very large number of people are emotionally traumatized, constantly crying non-stop and in a state of utter shock. At least definite reports of suicide by a woman has also been received by me. I will appeal to you that a psycho-social help intervention should be higher in the order of priority.

The report ( current as on 13th September, 2008 ) provides a concise overview of the daily flood situation, action taken so far and provides detailed statistics on the issue. The report also includes meteorological forecasts and analysis of current and possible flood situations in the different areas of concern.

Two documents giving the details of the mega camps and other relief camps that are being run by the Government. Thanks to Eklavya Prasad of Megh Pyne Abhiyan for forwarding these documents.

Among lot of other data it gives the current government estimate of affected people (40lakh people, from 2350 affected villages, in 16 districts of Bihar, with the  number of deaths as 87). There is a district-wise breakup. Information about food and other material and cash being distributed, details of the relief camps, UN activities are mentioned.

Dr. Jagannath Mishra, former Chief Minister of Bihar, has given a pathetic description of floods in Bihar. He said that "Nobody from the government has gone to Saharsa so far. If the people in Saharsa are surviving, they must be saying that we are engulfed in water since ten days and nobody is there to think about us. This is quite worrisome. I will suggest that we must try to look after those surviving there. We must try to save them, whether by boats or a helicopter.. The flood in Saharsa is not a flood, this is unprecedented¦.we cannot call it a flood, it is a deluge." But wait, he is not talking about the recent floods (2008) in Bihar. He was making a speech in the Bihar Vidhan Sabha on the 13th September 1984 about a similar incident that took place on the 5th September 1984 near Navhatta in Saharsa district of north Bihar when the Kosi had breached its embankment at 75th kilometer south of the much talked about Bhimnagar Barrage and come out of the jacket just as it happened at Kusaha this year. Obviously, the powers that be refuse to take any lessons from the past mistakes and their executive wing, the Water Resources Department, is immune to any criticism and learning. The 1984 incident had uprooted nearly half a million people from their homes and hearths and engulfed 96 villages spread over 7 blocks of Saharsa and Supaul districts then. They could return to their homes only after the Holi festival in March 1985.

Key Features: Reviews the risks of inter-basin water transfers warns of critical disadvantages with India's proposed ILR plan offers viable less-risky solutions for water resource development. Inter-basin water transfers are complex human interventions on natural systems that can have profound adverse as well as beneficial social, economic and environmental implications. India's plan to interlink its rivers (ILR) and to transfer water may, according to one set of views, generate positive benefits through improved and expanded irrigation and may also contribute to flood and drought hazards mitigation for India, although the magnitudes are debatable. However, there are opposing views, in the context of India itself, that the interlinking plan is economically prohibitive, fraught with uncertainties, and has potential for disastrous and irreversible adverse after-effects. Water deficit can be reduced through improved water management without large scale engineering interventions. Moreover many of the rivers involved, particularly in the Himalayan component, are international and, therefore, the scheme has major implications for other riparians. Indeed, the planned transfer of water from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers will adversely impact Bangladesh socially, economically and environmentally---unless arrangements are made to maintain historical flows, which is unlikely to be feasible.

Two press releases on the work being done by the National Disaster Management Authority regarding early warning systems for flooding, guidelines for management of urban flooding and more : http://www.pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2008PR58