Dinesh K. Mishra is a structural engineer by training (IIT-Kharagpur), but has devoted his entire life to the study of Bihar rivers, and advocating the need to understand these and the flood-devastation they continue to wreak year in and out since the post-development period. I had the good fortune of doing a 10-day Kosi yatra with him in the 1990s, which was a tremendous learning experience for me.
This is what he has written today, which would be valuable for us in Uttarakhand also to understand.
18th August is past and we all have remembered the disaster caused by Kusaha breach and lamented that the rehabilitation process is far from over. It is also time to lament that the victims of 1984 breach of the Kosi embankment at Navhatta were also left to fend for themselves and are a forgotten identity. The villages protected by Bhatania approach bundh had to shift to unknown places and mostly on the waterlogged land outside the eastern Kosi. embankment on their own in 1971 are also forgotten. This embankment was built at a cost of Rs 20 lakhs and its repairs cost Rs 2.86 crores. We have also forgotten that in order to save Rs 1.5 crores, the RJD government via the government of India had to spend (give) Rs 5.28 crores to Nepal for the losses incurred there at Joginia in 1991. The Water Resources Minister of then Bihar government had given a promise on the floor of the house that he would resign his post if any breach in any of the embankments in the state was reported. He did, but his resignation was not accepted and he remained there for full 15 years in office.
It is wisely said -
This is what he has written today, which would be valuable for us in Uttarakhand also to understand.
18th August is past and we all have remembered the disaster caused by Kusaha breach and lamented that the rehabilitation process is far from over. It is also time to lament that the victims of 1984 breach of the Kosi embankment at Navhatta were also left to fend for themselves and are a forgotten identity. The villages protected by Bhatania approach bundh had to shift to unknown places and mostly on the waterlogged land outside the eastern Kosi. embankment on their own in 1971 are also forgotten. This embankment was built at a cost of Rs 20 lakhs and its repairs cost Rs 2.86 crores. We have also forgotten that in order to save Rs 1.5 crores, the RJD government via the government of India had to spend (give) Rs 5.28 crores to Nepal for the losses incurred there at Joginia in 1991. The Water Resources Minister of then Bihar government had given a promise on the floor of the house that he would resign his post if any breach in any of the embankments in the state was reported. He did, but his resignation was not accepted and he remained there for full 15 years in office.
It is wisely said -
याद-ए-माज़ी अज़ाब है या रब
छीन ले मुझसे हाफिज़ा मेरा।
Remembering the past is very painful, my God
Snatch away my memory from me.
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