Flood threat in Kosi blows over,alert withdrawn from six dist

The Bihar government today decided to withdraw alert from six out of nine districts as the flood threat receded after the Nepal government decided against a blast to open the mouth of the blocked Bhote Kosi, a tributary of Kosi river.
The Principal Secretary of the Disaster Management Department, Vyasji, told reporters that the Nepal government decided to settle for releasing water in a regulated way through holes created in the artificial lake instead of going in for a blast.
"As per latest inputs which emerged during our meeting with Central government officials through video conferencing that Nepal government has decided not to go for blast of debris that has closed the mouth of Bhote Kosi and instead release water in a regulated way through 2-3 holes created in the artificial lake," Vyasji said.

With the decision to go for regulated release of water from the artificial lake in Nepal the increased inflow of water in Kosi into Indian side would be "manageable", he said.
"Now alerts would be in place in only three districts of Supual, Saharsa and Madhepura, which would face the gush of water from Nepal to India," Vyasji said after video conference meeting and subsequent meeting of state's crisis management group in the day.
The evacuation process in six districts of Kosi area would be stopped now, he said adding that those still coming on their own to the relief camps would not, however, be turned down.

The six districts where alert has been withdrawn are Khagaria, Araria, Madhubani, Bhagalpur, Purnia and Darbhanga.
Five columns of army would also continue to stay in these three districts so will be personnel of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and state officials engaged in evacuation and relief work, he said.
Earlier, in the day, Vyasji had said that there was report of no blast of debris in Nepal for today only, which entailed that there was 24 hour respite in the flood threat in nine Bihar districts.