Experts blame factors other than heavy monsoon for floods

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23 

As central and eastern parts of the country—Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan—reel under floods, experts are pointing to reasons other than heavy monsoon for the calamity.

Heavy silting of the Ganga, haphazard infrastructure development and mismanagement of dams, in this case the Farakka barrage was responsible for the current predicament say experts.        

Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected across the flood-ravaged states with swathes of agricultural land submerged.

Besides state agencies, the Centre has pressed NDRF for rescue and relief operations. While agricultural losses are not yet being assessed, officials admit huge losses to man and property.

Heavy silting of Ganga was also pointed out by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Seeking the Centre’s intervention, Nitish Kumar said de-silting Ganga was the only solution to avoid the almost annual occurrence. Unless river beds were not de-silted the problem would keep recurring, he said.

The Prime Minister has promised formulating a national silt management policy, Nitish Kumar said after the meeting.

Environmental expert Himanshu Thakkar feels Nitish Kumar’s demands are legitimate. “He raised it earlier also but it seems the Centre is not listening,” he says.

Though flooding in MP and Rajasthan can be attributed to excess rains, Bihar received 14 per cent less rains than normal during the season. Several parts of Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh came under floods due to high rains in Nepal and Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, resulting in huge discharge of water into rivers passing through the States

As per Thakkar though, more than the monsoon the cause of these floods is mismanagement, mostly of dams, and of course the haphazard development and embankment of the river. “Himalayan regions, like Uttarakhand are vulnerable to flash floods and all development should be keeping that factor in mind. However, the rains received this year are not unprecedented. They have occurred in the past as well,” he asserts.

He says that “mismanagement at Bansagar Dam and the drainage congestion and siltation in Ganga created by the Farakka dam together created an avoidable flood disaster this year in Bihar and now in Uttar Pradesh”