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How did Koshi River Become a River of Sorrow?
-Santa Bahadur Pun Magar, former General Manager of Nepal Electricity Authority

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Kathmandu, September 1, 2008- The Koshi River, known as the 'Sorrow of Bihar' has become the 'Sorrow of Nepal' with a disastrous flood after the breach of its embankment on the night of August 17.

The flood has displaced more than 160,000 thousand people in Nepal while in India it has displaced more than half a million. Physically, India has suffered more than Nepal but compared with India, the damage is equally challenging for the small country of Nepal.

Former General Manager of Nepal Electricity Authority, Santa Bahadur Pun Magar is a water resource expert. Usnepalonline Special Representative Smita Magar talked with him relating the disastrous Koshi flood:

Q. What was the cause of the breach of the Koshi embankment which is now turning into the most devastating natural calamity for Nepal and Bihar, India?

Pun: Negligence from the concerned authorities led to this problem. If they had repaired those weak embankments in time then things would have been different.

Q. Disaster has happened and victims are increasing. Who failed to do their responsibility?

Pun: According to the Koshi Agreement, the entire operation of the Koshi Barrage and embankment is done by India so it was India's responsibility to make all the repairs on time. On Nepal’s part, it was the responsibility of the Nepali Legion (communication) Officer of Biratnagar to inform the Nepal Government about the situation and co-operate well with the Indians, but the disaster shows we failed in both ways.

Q: What can be the immediate solution?

Pun: Fighting with nature is near impossible at this season so instead of pointing fingers at each other, both countries have to co-ordinate and focus on preventing Koshi River from doing any further damage.

They need to focus on relief programs for victims. The ‘true’ repair of the breached embankment can only happen in the dry season.

Q. What can be the long term solution then?

Pun: India is sure to put forward the concept of building the Saptakoshi High Dam in Barahachhetra. This project is likely to displace about 75000 Nepalese people. Are we ready to do that?

My fear is that if some Nepalese politicians sign the agreement without being transparent and discussing thoroughly with concerned authorities and people, we may end up losing our water rights to the Koshi River as we have in other rivers. So, they need to be very cautious and aware of the consequences of the High Dam.

For a week after the breach of the embankment at the Kusaha of Sunsari, the Nepali government and the Indian government remained busy pointing fingers at each other for being at fault in the disaster. This increased the suffering of the flood victims, their vulnerability to diseases as well as damage to crops worth Rs 300 million in the district.

Though the relief fund is pouring in from national and international levels it is not working as effectively as it should. More than that, nearly 25,000 hungry victims from India have entered Nepal complaining they did not receive any food from their government.

Experts from both countries are working hard to protect the Koshi from further damage to the embankment but due to rain they are not able to reconstruct the breached embankment at this time.

The Indian expert came to Kathmandu about repairing fragile areas of the embankment on August 17, and the breach of embankment happened on the night of August 17. “The repair of the embankment should be done in dry season, either before rainy season or after rainy season,” says Santa Bahadur Pun, Nepali water resource expert.

As per the Koshi Agreement, the entire operation and maintenance of the barrage and embankment is up to India so if they had repaired the embankment on time the disaster would not have been so devastating.

The Koshi Agreement was signed by Mahabir Shumsher (Nepal) and Gulzari Lal Nanda (India) during the premiership of Matrika Prasad Koirala in April 25, 1954.

It has been arousing much bitterness in Nepal as Nepal is receiving only a minute portion of irrigation, India is benefiting more from power development, thus ruining Nepal’s richest agricultural lands while Nepalese peasants are being discriminated against in compensation.

But India’s Ambassador Dev Mukherjee said in Kathmandu Reporter Club’s ‘Face to Face’ program in 2001, “If the Indian’s had built the Koshi Barrage a little downstream in Bihar, then Nepal’s advantage would have been zero. And Indian irrigation instead of nine and half lakh hectares would have been nine lakh and thirty five thousand hectares.”

But the on-the-ground ground reality shows that the Koshi barrage, entirely within Nepal, is so sited that it provides not a single acre of Nepalese land with irrigation from the Koshi Eastern Canal which provides irrigation to 612,500 hectares of land in India. The Koshi Western, after traversing 35 kms of valuable Nepalese territory, provides irrigation to only 11,300 hectares of Saptari lands through gravitation flow and 13,800 hectares with costly pumped irrigation. This was availed only after much agitation by the Saptari farmers. On the other hand, the same Western Canal provides gravity flow irrigation to 356,600 hectares of land in India.

“Koshi Agreement is the strongest agreement in water resources for Nepal as Nepal has every right to withdraw water from it whenever it needs, but results show otherwise. Nepalis are least benefited by it,” says Pun.

India has always looked to the Nepali water sources for fresh water. In this run, Nepal has seen every water agreement with India getting weaker for Nepal and stronger forIndia. Agreements/treaties from Koshi to Gandak and to Mahakali River prove it.

Coming back to today’s problem, the devastation caused by the ‘Koshi: Sorrow of Bihar’ in both countries has raised the crucial question: what can be done to prevent the occurrence of similar situations in the future?

For some years India has been pushing forward the construction of Sapta Koshi High Dam in Barahachhetra as it will elongate the life of Koshi barrage and embankment along with inclusion of Sun Koshi- Kamala diversion and indirectly play an important role in River Linking Project of India. But, what India is presenting as the long term solution for Koshi can be disastrous for Nepal. If the High Dam is constructed the water level will touch Tumlingtar airfield. That means it will not only put the large Nepali rich-fertile land under water and imbalance our ecology, environment but also displace more than 75,000 Nepali people living in that area.

Nepal government needs to be very cautious before signing any agreements with India on related issues. Concerned authorities should not misuse their power and sign any documents before talking with Nepali experts and people as there are chances that we might as well lose our water rights in Koshi as we have done in Gandak River, Mahakali and many other water resources of the Nepal.

“India’s intentions are not good while we are talking about water resources. Before signing any documents concerned Ministers and authorities need to be transparent and take it to the people. They should form strong institution to negotiate with India on the matter so that Nepal will not lose its water rights and at the same time affected people will receive reasonable compensation,” warns Pun.

As history shows, from construction of the Koshi barrage and embankment, local people were not compensated and their land revenue is not yet paid by the Indian government. Therefore, if the construction of High Dam becomes a necessity Nepalese authorities need to make sure those people who depend for their livelihood on the banks of the Koshi River and its tributaries are fairly compensated by India.

Along with that, another important responsibility for them is to make sure Nepalese do not also end up losing their water rights from the Koshi River. They need to be cautious that it does not end up as it has on Gaur inundation, Mahali Sagar inundation, Laxmanpur embankment and in Tanakpur.

Photos: Smita

-Smita Magar in Kathmandu
September, 1, 2008, Kathmandu

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