Bihar to seek help on Kosi breach

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will visit New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow to ask for help to deal with what he terms “a catastrophe.” The chief minister, who is also the disaster management minister of the state, has asked that the two-km breach in the embankment on the Kosi river should not be termed a “mere flood.” “It is a catastrophe, an unprecedented disaster for Bihar,” he said. The Kosi river, which over the last 250 years has moved its course from east to west by over 120 km, suddenly covered the same distance westwards when it breached its embankments in Bhimnagar in Bihar and Nepal.

This has resulted in death of 45 people and displacement of thousands. The border di stricts of Araria, Madhepura,Purnea and Supaul — called Seemanchal — are in danger of flooding.

According to Ajay Naik, principal secretary in Bihar’s water resources department, the Nepal government will help the state plug the breach. He added channels were being dug to guide the water back to the main river bed.

Government sources said the administration was also considering taking the help of some construction companies.

The state government has declared that three air force helicopters have been pressed into service. Around 17,000 food packets have been dropped over the 417 affected villages. Over 500 boats have been dispatched and 80 relief camps and 56 health centres have been set up in the affected areas.