Experts blame India, Nepal for catastrophe

While Bihar's key political parties — Nitish Kumar-led ruling Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — are at each other’s throat for the worst-ever floods in the state, experts say the fragile relations between India and Nepal are the root cause of the catastrophe.

The floods, caused by a huge breach in the embankment of the Saptakosi river in Nepal on August 18, have displaced nearly 3 million people in Bihar’s 11 districts.

South Asia Analyses Group’s Dr S Chandrashekhar, an expert on the India-Nepal water treaty, said while the Bihar government had been neglecting the repair of the Kosi river’s embankments, it was lack of authority in Nepal for a long period that led to “poor diplomatic management’’ of the problem.

After years of Maoist insurgency, Nepal held elections for the Constituent Assembly in April. It was only two weeks ago that the elected members agreed to name Prachanda as prime minister.

Chandrasekhara said under the 1954 Kosi treaty, the Indian government was responsible for the upkeep of the river’s embankments while the Nepal government was in charge of monitoring the flow of water and alerting India to any flood threat. “Generally, Nepal’s authorities had been neglecting this part of their responsibility under the premise that the swollen river does not pose a risk to their country,’’ said Chandrashekhar.

However, this time, nature’s fury did not spare even Nepal, leading to Prime Minister Prachanda announcing that Nepal will seek “revision of the one-sided treaty with India”.

Chandrasekhar even supports the claim of the Bihar government that its engineers could not reach the Kosi barrage in time to conduct annual repairs as Nepal failed to provide them security.

Paul Soren of the Observer Research Foundation said that due to the prolonged political turmoil in Nepal and the growing suspicion against India, the management of rivers became the most neglected area. “India’s proposals on building dams on the Kosi did not take off as the mindset in Nepal was to find fault with any move that came from India,’’ he said.

However, sources in the government said, “New Delhi is ready to discuss any fresh ideas from Nepal on the water-sharing treaty.’’