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India springs flood fear
RAJBIRAJ, MAY 23 -
Saptari faces inundation risk as India is attempting to divert the course of the Koshi river to protect its own settlements.
India is building an eight-kilometre pilot channel from Bardaha to Gobergada -- Saptari villages bordering India — putting the two villages and others at risk.
Dev Narayan Yadav of Koshi Flood Victims’ Society claimed hat more than a dozen villages on the Nepal side could face floods when the project is complete.
Locals said Indian firm Sri Ram Constructions has employed a large number of workers to build the project.
“Once the water starts to flow into the channel, we will be forced to leave the village,” Mohammad Ismial of Gobargada-9 said. “The channel is being dug right in the middle of the village.”
This is not the first time India is trying to divert the Koshi course, though. Earlier, Indian authorities had contracted an IRs.-360-million project to Ratna Constructions to build a similar channel. The project faced a disastrous setback
due to the Koshi floods in 2008.
Contractor Sharad Bhagat said the project is well on its way and they plan to direct the water in the channel very soon.
Meanwhile, Nepali authorities seem unaware of the project. Chief District Officer Ram Prasad Ghimire said he had no idea about the Indian undertaking. He said he was not apprised about the project even during the monthly meeting with the Indian side.
A Koshi Project official based at India’s Birpur said the Bihar state government was building the pilot channel with funds from the central government. He did not say why Nepali authorities were not informed about it. “This is an international issue. The two governments may have held high-level talks on the regard,” he said.
Biratnagar-based Koshi Liaison and Land Acquisition Office, which oversees the entire activities related to the Koshi Project, is also unaware of the pilot channel.
Posted on: 2010-05-24 07:36
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