Lok Sabha Question No. 288 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-08
Subject: Floods in Bihar
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Alok Kumar Suman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 288

## ANSWERED ON 08.12.2022

## FLOODS IN BIHAR

## 288 DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it is a fact that the flood situation during the rainy season in Bihar is perennial problem and the same has been noticed by the Ministry repeatedly;

(b) if so, the measures taken by the Government in this regard;

(c) whether the Government has formulated any programme or policy to control the flood and rehabilitate the displaced people particularly in Gopalganj district of Bihar;

(d) whether it is a fact that the flood situation of Bihar is mainly connected with the overflow of river water from Nepal; and

(e) if so, the measures taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI ( SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU )

(a) Floods are natural calamity that the country faces almost every year, in varying degrees of magnitude. The occurrence of floods can be attributed to various factors, including wide variations in rainfall both in time and space with frequent departures from the normal pattern, inadequate carrying capacities of rivers, river  bank  erosion  and  silting  of  river  beds,  landslides,  poor  natural  drainage  in  flood  prone  areas, snowmelt  and  glacial  lake  out-bursts.  Central  Water  Commission  (CWC)  issues  flood  forecasts  at identified locations as a non-structural measure of flood management. Flood situation in State of Bihar monitored through CWC network during the past four years is given at Annexure-I.

(b)  &  (c) Flood  management  including  erosion  control  falls  within  the  purview  of  the  States.  Flood management and anti-erosion schemes are formulated and implemented by concerned State Governments as per their priority. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing technical guidance and also promotional financial assistance for management of floods in critical areas. Integrated flood  approach  aims  at  adopting  judicious  mix  of  structural  and  non-structural  measures  to  provide  a reasonable degree of protection against flood damages at economic cost.

To strengthen the structural measures of flood management,  Ministry had implemented Flood Management  Programme  (FMP) during  XI  &  XII  Plan  for  providing  Central  Assistance  to  States  for works  related to flood control, anti-erosion, drainage development,  anti-sea erosion, etc.  which subsequently continued as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and further extended up to September 2022 with limited outlay. From  the  State  of  Bihar,  48  projects  were  included  for  central  assistance  under  FMP  component  of ongoing FMBAP of Ministry of Jal Shakti. The 42 completed projects have given protection to an area of around 28.67 lakh ha and protected a population of about 22.34 million. Central Assistance amounting to the tune of Rs. 924.41 Crore has been released to the State of Bihar under FMP component of FMBAP. State  Government  of  Bihar  has  informed  that  152  km  embankments  have  been  constructed  on  river Gandak in Gopalganj District as a flood protection/ anti erosion measures.

For Non structural measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) issues flood forecasts for rivers common to Nepal and India namely Sharda, Ghaghra, Rapti, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamala, Kosi and Mahananda  using  hydro-meteorological  data  of  CWC  stations  and  that  available  on  the  website  of Department  of  Hydrology  &  Meteorology,  Government  of  Nepal.  At  present,  CWC  has  40  level forecasting stations (for villages/towns on the bank of the rivers) and 3 inflow forecasting stations (for Dams/ Barrages) in the State of Bihar.

(d) & (e) Main reason for floods in the State of Bihar is on account of increased discharge in rivers of North Bihar like Gandak, Burhi Gandak and Bagmati, Kamla, Kosi and Mahananda due to heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas which mainly lie in Nepal. The management of floods due to these rivers has been  a  concern.  The  related  issues  are  discussed  in  the  existing  Indo-Nepal  bilateral  mechanisms comprising of (i) Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) (ii) Joint Standing Technical Committee (JSTC),  (iii)  Joint  Committee  on  Gandak  &Kosi  Projects  (JCKGP)  and  (iv)  Joint  Committee  on Inundation  and  Flood  management  (JCIFM).  Government  of  India  is  having  regular  dialogue  with  the Government of Nepal on measures for water management for mutual benefit of the two countries which includes flood control.

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 288 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 08.12.2022 REGARDING 'FLOODS IN BIHAR'.

## Summary of Flood Situation in Bihar from 2019-2022(till Nov)

|   Year |   No. of Flood Forecasting Station flowed in Extreme Flood |   No. of monitoring Station ( other than FF ) flowed in Extreme Flood |   No. of FF Station flowed in Severe Flood |   No. of forecast issued |   No. of forecast within limit |   %age of accuracy (%) |
|--------|------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------------|------------------------|
|   2019 |                                                          1 |                                                                     3 |                                         32 |                     2186 |                           2155 |                  98.58 |
|   2020 |                                                          3 |                                                                     6 |                                         28 |                     3223 |                           3192 |                  99.04 |
|   2021 |                                                          2 |                                                                     2 |                                         33 |                     3317 |                           3248 |                  97.92 |
|   2022 |                                                          3 |                                                                     1 |                                         21 |                     2429 |                           2384 |                  98.14 |

## Extreme Flood Situation (Above Highest Flood Level):

Flood Forecasting Stations Flowed in Extreme Flood Situation in Bihar during (2019-2022)

| Sl.   | State   | District    | River       | Station     | Period     | Period     |
|-------|---------|-------------|-------------|-------------|------------|------------|
| No    |         |             |             |             | From       | To         |
| 2019  |         |             |             |             |            |            |
| 1     | Bihar   | Madhubani   | Kamlabalan  | Jhanjharpur | 14/07/2019 | 14/07/2019 |
| 2020  |         |             |             |             |            |            |
| 1     | Bihar   | Gopalganj   | Gandak      | Dumariaghat | 23/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 |
| 2     |         | Muzzafarpur | Gandak      | Rewaghat    | 24/07/2020 | 25/07/2020 |
| 3     |         | Samastipur  | BurhiGandak | Rosera      | 31/07/2020 | 05/08/2020 |
| 2021  |         |             |             |             |            |            |
| 1     | Bihar   | Patna       | Ganga       | Hatidah     | 13/08/2021 | 19/08/2021 |
| 2     |         | Bhagalpur   | Ganga       | Bhagalpur   | 16/08/2021 | 19/08/2021 |
| 2022  |         |             |             |             |            |            |
| 1     | Bihar   | Kishanganj  | Mahananda   | Taibpur     | 29/06/2022 | 29/06/2022 |
| 2     |         | Supaul      | Kosi        | Basua       | 02/08/2022 | 02/08/2022 |
| 3     |         | Siwan       | Ghagra      | Darauli     | 14/10/2022 | 16/10/2022 |

*****