Coordinate with Nepal officials for flood control works: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asked the state officials to conduct anti-erosion and flood control works, as well as strengthening of embankments and bunds and maintenance of barrages on the rivers originating in Nepal, in proper coordination with their counterparts concerned in Nepal.
The CM made his observations during the high-level meeting held to review of the flood control, anti-erosion, embankment and bund strengthening and barrage maintenance works being done by the state water resources department (WRD).
The Valmikinagar and Birpur barrages across rivers Gandak and Kosi, respectively, fall in the Nepal territory, while the barrage maintenance, anti-erosion, flood protection and flood fighting works have to be conducted by the Bihar WRD, including on their afflux embankments and marginal bunds that lie in Nepal.
The work being done on Lalbakeya and Kamla Balan river embankments also requires movement and operations in the Nepal territory.
“Maintain proper coordination with the Nepal government officials while working in the areas of Gandak, Kosi, Kamla and other river basins,” the CM said.
His directive is significant as the Nepal government officials last week had stopped state WRD engineers from executing work in their territory. It, in turn, involved mediation at the ministry of external affairs (MEA) level with Nepal counterparts.
While 15 of the 22 schemes and projects in the Kosi basin had already been completed, Nitish instructed the WRD officials to also complete the remaining seven works before the floods hit the state.
The CM also stressed on proper coordination with the local Nepal government officials with regard to the steel piling work on the embankment of Kamla Balan, which was the first of its kind in the state. A similar instruction was also given with regard to the breach closure work and strengthening of the right and left embankments of the Kamla weir.
He asked the WRD officials and engineers to make advance storage of the flood control materials to meet any eventuality in the Lalbakeya and Kamla basins. The works on the right Lalbakeya marginal bund, as well as on the right and left marginal embankments of Kamla weir, are in progress.
Nitish also stressed on the timely completion of the anti-flood work regarding Belwa dhaar (rivulet), besides insisting on the maintenance of communication network and constant monitoring of the work at nodal and vulnerable points by the engineers concerned. In the flood situation, all relief work has to be conducted as per the standard operating procedure (SOP), he added.
WRD minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, chief secretary Deepak Kumar, WRD secretary Sanjeev Hans, Chanchal Kumar, principal secretary to CM, along with secretaries Manish Verma and Anupam Kumar attended the meeting. Hans made a presentation on the works being done by the WRD.