Bihar Flood News: The relationship between Bihar and floods is decades old, but the methods to deal with this disaster are still old. Every year when North Bihar drowns, videos and pictures of poor people going viral on social media expose the government’s tall claims. Caught in the maze of relief and compensation, the public is now asking that for how long will this gap between claims and ground reality continue and when will they get permanent relief from this annual waste?
Big claims and ground reality
The glitter of claims often pales in comparison to the ground truth. The biggest example of this is the much talked about special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for Bihar announced in 2015, about which tall claims were made on election forums. Let us inform that a special financial package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all-round development, infrastructure and flood control projects of the state.
However, in later years, questions were raised on the basis of information received from the opposition and Right to Information (RTI) that the amount of many old and already released central schemes was included in this package as new figures. The people of the flood affected areas are still asking whether even after a decade, many important flood control and embankment construction projects of North Bihar are still running at a snail’s pace or stuck in the files.
Rs 11,000 crore on paper, same old helplessness on ground
In the name of permanent solution to floods in Bihar, projects worth more than Rs 11,000 crore were announced in the Union Budget for destructive rivers like Kosi, Gandak and Bagmati. But when it comes to the implementation of these schemes, the pace slows down.
This is the reason why from Supaul to Purnia and from Darbhanga to Sitamarhi, the public has not seen any direct impact of this big budget. Every year the rivers overflow, embankments break and millions of people have to become refugees on their own land. This contradiction clearly shows that unless the budget comes out of the files and is honestly implemented on the ground, the reality of lives being spent under plastic sheets will not change.
Claims for immediate relief regarding Bihar Flood also failed!
According to media reports, despite government claims and preparations, every year with the arrival of monsoon many embankments collapse like cards. On this, opposition parties have been continuously alleging that there is large-scale administrative negligence and corruption in the repair of embankments and distribution of flood relief material. This is why dry ration and a large part of the immediate relief amount of Rs 7,000 per family announced by the government do not reach the actual victims on time or in the right manner.
On the other hand, building a ‘high-dam’ on the Kosi river on the India-Nepal border has been discussed for decades as a permanent solution to this tragedy. However, due to diplomatic disagreements between India and Nepal and difference in international priorities, this ambitious plan is still limited to files and election promises only.