- Heavy rains in Nepal worsened flooding in Bihar, severely impacting villages between the Kosi river’s embankments, where around 10 lakh people reside.
- Structural constructions, narrowing river width, and silt accumulation from Nepal have made the area more flood-prone, harming agriculture over the past 15 years.
- Submergence and erosion are displacing island communities, with women and children being the most affected.
After heavy rains in many parts of Nepal and Bihar in the last days of September 2024, the Kosi region faced a devastating flood after decades. The impact of the flood was visible even after weeks. It uprooted the lives of people living between the two embankments built on Kosi. The flood destroyed the crops, animal fodder, and food grains of thousands of families living between the embankments and left them mentally and physically exhausted.
The Kosi river, known for its floods and velocity, divides into several branches in this region and keeps changing its flow rapidly. For this reason, it is difficult to assess the intensity and direction of floods in the Kosi region. Due to the division of the river, many islands are formed in these areas which are called ‘chhint’ in the local language. At many places along the Kosi, one can see islands where people live in mud houses. In the case of erosion on one patch, people shift to another part of the same patch or settle on another patch. There are about 300 villages scattered along the river and the families living here, which includes climate- displaced persons, are forced to change their place of residence every time due to the submergence.
Subhadra Devi, 55, who lives on one such patch in Belagoth village in Supaul district, told Mongabay India in a choked voice how the flood has badly shaken her and her family. The little farming land she owns is submerged in the flood water. Her family of six includes her husband Vishnu Mandal who does farming work. The couple has four sons—the three elder sons work outside as migrant labourers, and the youngest son Rahul, 14, is in class nine.
The chhint on which her village Belagoth is situated has got submerged in Kosi. In such a situation, the family is forced to take shelter in the house of others living on the same patch. The houses here, however, are made of mud, sackcloth and plastic mats and are too small to accommodate too many people. Hence, Subhadra Devi has taken shelter in the verandah of the house of Ramlakhan Mandal, a resident of the same village. All she has in her possession is one tin box and a few household items. Her husband Vishnu Mandal has taken shelter in the house of Ramadhin Mukhiya.
Subhadra Devi is not the only woman whose family has been forced to relocate due to repeated erosion. Chandrama Devi, 42, who resides in the same village, says: “Earlier, my house was in Ward 6. We moved to Ward 7 after facing erosion. Now, we have to move from here as well.” Her husband Vinod Mandal, 46, works as an agricultural laborer in Punjab and the couple has three children. She informs that she lost four drums of wheat in the floods.
There are hundreds of such erosion-induced displacement stories heard in villages situated between the embankments of Kosi. While almost everyone gets affected by this, but those from socially and economically weak sections of society are the most affected.
Speaking to Mongabay India, Rukmini Devi, 55, who belongs to the Musahar caste, said: “We used to live in Mungrar village, but three years ago, due to the erosion along the Kosi, our house got washed away and so we went to live on a clean stretch. There is an estimated distance of 2.5 kms between the two.” Her husband Gonar Sada, 60, a laborer, says: “This time, erosion left a huge hole in our house and water entered the drums in which grains were kept. They are rotten now and can’t be used.” The couple has three sons and two daughters; the sons work as laborers.
A visit to villages and areas located between Kosi river in Supaul district of Bihar led to more stories of displacement. Some families who have been living in permanent settlements for the past few years are fearful of submergence and find it difficult to predict for how long their homes and villages will continue to exist.
Impact of the floods
After the Kosi floods, rescue operations are being carried out by the government, which include the distribution of ration and drinking water and the setting up of medical camps. But the situation in the villages away from the embankments is quite different from the situation in villages in and around the embankments.
According to the data released by Kaushal Kishore, the Supaul district magistrate, this year, 264 wards of 33 panchayats in five blocks of the district have been affected by the floods.
Belagoth village is located in Dubiyahi panchayat of Kishanpur block in Supaul district. Due to the intensity of the river’s current, it took about two hours to reach this village by boat, located about four kms from Mungrar ghat, near Supaul city. There is not a single family here that is not affected by the floods. Mongabay India did not find any medical camp here in the first week of October and no relief work was being undertaken. On the other hand, medical camps, relief camps and arrangements for distribution of drinking water were seen at various places in and around the embankments.
Due to their remoteness from surrounding cities, towns and roads, the absence of active relief work in these villages makes one realize that even during these catastrophic floods, the administration and the government have been ignoring people. The villagers informed that, so far, they have only been provided with two kilos of chuda (puffed rice) and one chatai (plastic mat) as part of flood relief.
Many people in the village were seen drying wheat mixed with mud, while many others were seen waiting for the mud accumulated in their houses to dry so that life could get back on track. People showed huge lumps of frozen rice which was no longer fit for consumption because it had become wet. Due to the washing away of animal fodder, people are also facing difficulty in feeding cattle.
People in groups of four-five were seen searching for their cattle in the flood-affected area. “We have been searching for our buffalo since the flood waters receded,” said Ram Narayan, 29. Narayan, a resident of Bananiya village of Saraigarh Bhapatiyari block, said that in a day they cover a distance of 25 to 30 km in search of their animals and at night they take shelter in someone’s house in a nearby village.
Mongabay India noticed that the areas where the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team has deployed boats are close to urban areas. No such arrangements were seen in the interiors. People living here were relying on NGOs that are carrying out relief work with the help of common people.
The floods have also led to a massive drinking water crisis. The hand pumps are submerged in water, and it is difficult to extract water from them. Besides, mostly muddy and contaminated water is coming out of handpumps, that is not fit for drinking. Many women complained about health issues in the aftermath of floods. Kunti Devi, an elderly woman, informed that she did not get food and water for two days. Desperate, she drank the muddy water and fell severely ill. Rajendra Mandal, an elder from the Belagoth village, recalled the 1968 flood and said that this year’s flood is the most intense after that.
People living in the region have not been able to forget the devastating 2008 Bihar floods when the Kosi river changed course and flooded area which had not been flooded in decades. More than 400 people lost their lives and many went missing. But it also had a long-lasting impact on the geology and agriculture. “After 2008, there is more water here for five to six months. Due to this, our farming pattern has changed, and we are able to grow only wheat crops. We have given up on growing moong, the second major Rabi crop,” says Rajesh Mandal, 32. The villagers informed that the land is filled with water from April to October. “We have not harvested paddy after the 2008 flood. Earlier, there used to be less planting of paddy and more pruning and just by pruning the paddy would be harvested,” says Mandal.
He informs that earlier the width of the riverbed was 28 km. But after the government has built dams on both sides, it has reduced the width to eight to nine km. On top of that, it is filled with a huge amount of silt, which has increased the problems.
Rehabilitation of villages between Kosi embankments
Dinesh Mishra, the coordinator of the flood relief campaign, who has been working on the Kosi river for more than four decades, has mentioned in his book “Na Ghar Na Ghat” that based on the 2001 census, 380 villages are stranded between the Kosi embankments. These include 162 villages of six blocks of Supaul district, 134 villages of four blocks of Saharsa district, nine villages of one block (Kiratpur) of Darbhanga district, 73 villages of three blocks of Madhubani district. Based on the 2001 census, these villages have a population of 9.87 lakh.
“At the time of construction of the embankment, the government had released a list of 304 villages which came under it. But in 2004, when I decided to write the book and asked for the list from the Kosi Rehabilitation Office, I was given a list of 285 villages. However, later, the length of the eastern embankment was extended, bringing more villages within its scope, thereby increasing the number of villages. Thirty-four villages of Nepal also fall within the embankment,” mentioned Mishra while talking to Mongabay India. According to him, only a few resourceful and learned people were able to get out of the embankment. If we look at the population growth rate, this number will now increase as most of these families work as migrant laborers.
Mahendra Yadav, the founder of Kosi Navnirman Manch, says: “People living inside the Kosi embankment do not exist for the Bihar government and the main ruling party of the state —Janata Dal (United) (JDU). Sanjay Jha, the executive chairman of Kosi and former Water Resources Minister should apologize to the people for the statement he made and asked why people are living inside the embankment in the first place.”
Yadav adds: “Proper rehabilitation of people inside the embankment was not done and their land and livelihood were taken away. The Kosi Development Authority was formed on January 30, 1987, but no work was done. If the authorities had done their job, proper rehabilitation procedures would have been followed.”
He says that their demand is that the victims should be rehabilitated, and a survey should be conducted, or else people will suffer every year. “The provisions of the Kosi Development Authority should be implemented. There are many whose fields are submerged in water. The government should not levy taxes on them. The Kosi should be allowed to flow in its original stream. The flood problem cannot be solved by building more barrages,” says Yadav. It is noteworthy that to protect people from recurring floods, there are talks about building new barrages and raising and strengthening the embankments.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Hindi team and first published on our Hindi site on October 9, 2024.
Banner image: The flood situation in Bihar worsened after heavy rains in Nepal. Those living on the island-like structures on the Kosi river between the two embankments were severely impacted. Image by Rahul Singh for Mongabay.
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