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Nirmali Conference

The mighty river Kosi has been popularly termed as the Sorrow of Bihar. Nirmali is a small town in Bihar (Northern India), situated on the bank of Kosi river. The annual floods and continuous shifting of the river (about 80 km over 80 years) have continued to cause heavy damage to the region around Nirmali. What is of interest here is the human response to this natural process. On April 5, 1997, a meeting of the flood affected communities, local NGOs and experts was held at Nirmali. The meeting was intended to highlight the problems and generate awareness in the region about the relation between annual flood disasters and embankments that have been constructed over the past four decades.

Nirmali was also the venue of a historical meeting that was held exactly fifty years ago. The April 5, 1947 meeting, presided over by some of the political stalwarts of that era is remembered for its far-reaching decision to construct embankments (covering more than 1700 km) along the river. It is interesting to note that prior studies had concluded that this river, fed by snow and rain from Tibet and Himalayas, could not be embanked safely. The British experts had even suggested stoppage of repair of the preexisting embankments so that the flood waters could spread out in the whole floodplain.

Time has shown such concerns to be valid. Over the last fifty years, the area inside the embankments has risen by 3 to 5 m above the flood plain. The waterlogged area has increased considerably and the associated Kosi irrigation project has failed to irrigate even one tenth of the targeted command area. Annual breaches offer continued work for the building contractors. The fifty years of embankment investments have been a bane for the farmers and peasants and a boon to the contractors. For some, flood relief is almost like a third crop. The floods caused by breaches are more violent than normal floods. Flash flooding as a result of breaches cause havoc to crops that can sustain slow onset floods. The conflicts between various interest groups have also been on the rise. Repairing and raising of embankments is proving to be beyond the means of the government.

The Nirmali conference provided an opportunity for the various groups to come together and explain the hardships that they have to face year after year. Some of them revealed that they had to resort to cutting of embankments to save their settlements and crops every year. Others mentioned that they had been successful in preventing the reconstruction of embankments once they were damaged. The meeting culminated in a number of local organizations deciding to form a network to exchange information and coordinate action against embankment building.

For more information please contact: Barh Mukti Abhiyan, Near Burhawa Mahadeo, Hazaribagh 825 301, Bihar, India. Tel: 91-6546-23530; Fax: 91-6546-24990.