The Hindu : New Delhi News : Nepal not doing enough to prevent floods: Nitish

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Nepal not doing enough to prevent floods: Nitish

Patna/Birpur: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asked the Centre to take up with Nepal the issue of protecting and strengthening of the Kosi embankment to prevent floods in Bihar, adding that the Himalayan nation is not doing enough on that front.

“The Centre should immediately take up with Nepal the issue of strengthening and protecting the embankment in the wake of forceful stoppage of work in Nepal and digging of a pilot channel to re-establish the central flow of the river to avoid undue pressure on both the western and the eastern embankments,” Mr. Kumar told reporters in Patna on his return from Birpur in Supaul district.

If the digging of the channel is not resumed, he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and urge them to take up with Nepal measures to strengthen the embankment on Kosi to prevent floods in Bihar, he said.

Mr. Kumar was talking to reporters on his arrival from Birpur where he reviewed at a high-level meeting the progress of the ongoing strengthening work.

“This year, too, Nepal has simply not done enough to strengthen embankment of Kosi on the western side (in Nepal),” he said.

“It is high time that the India, Nepal and Bihar governments work together to strengthen the Kosi embankment to prevent floods in Bihar,” he said, adding that time was running out.

Stressing the need for de-siltation, gate management and construction of a barrage on Kosi, Mr. Kumar said he had apprised Union Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid of the need to dig a pilot channel on the eastern side of the river to contain floods during the rains.

The Chief Minister reviewed the ongoing strengthening work on the 20-km length of the eastern embankment on the Indian side which has come under pressure because of the shifting of the river towards the east down the barrage.

The Water Resource Department was trying to explore the alternative methods for protecting the embankment following the stoppage of the work including the digging of a pilot channel to re-establish the central flow of the river to avoid undue pressure on both the western and the eastern embankments, he said.

In the event of the pilot channel not being allowed to be dug, efforts would be made to maintain the central flow of the river by skilfully operating the gates of the Kosi barrage, State Water Resource Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said.

Earlier, Mr. Kumar inaugurated a school building-cum-rain centre constructed by the Indian Express Group costing Rs.87 lakh at Lagma under Sonebersa block in Saharsa district. - PTI

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