Lok Sabha Question No. 66 (STARRED), answered on 2021-12-02
Subject: Erosion caused by Floods
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: K. Muraleedharan, Mohammad Jawed

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

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *66

ANSWERED ON 02.12.2021

## EROSION CAUSED BY FLOODS

SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN DR. MOHAMMAD JAWED

*66.

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has assessed the impact of erosion of river banks annually in different States caused  by  flooding  of  rivers  viz.  Mahananda,  Mechi  and  Ratwa  rivers  in  Bihar,  Silaboti  river  in  West Bengal,  Brahmaputra  river  in  Assam  and  rivers  in  Kerala  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  alongwith  the reasons for such annual flooding;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to prevent such flooding;
- (c) whether the Government has conducted consultations with local stakeholders to solve flooding and soil erosion in the above States, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government has received any proposals from the States particularly Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala to solve annual flooding and consequent soil erosion; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof including the Government's response thereto and the time by which the annual flooding and consequent soil erosion problems are likely to be solved?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI

(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a) to (e)  A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  STARRED  QUESTION NO*66 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 02.12.2021 REGARDING 'EROSION CAUSED BY  FLOODS'  ASKED  BY  SHRI  K.  MURALEEDHARAN  and  DR.  MOHAMMAD  JAWED, HON'BLE MPs.

(a) & (b)  Erosion, movement and deposition of sediment in a river are natural regulating functions of a river. Rivers tend to maintain a balance between the silt load carried and silt load deposited, maintaining a river regime. Soil erosion caused by heavy floods is a matter of concern as it leads to several associated problems like changes in river course,loss of land, etc. Floods are a 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.

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 efforts of the State Governments by providing technical  guidance  and  also  promotional  financial  assistance  for  management  of  floods  in  critical  areas. The Government of India has been making continuous efforts to assist the State Governments in effective flood management and erosion control. Morphological studies by various IIT and NIIT have been carried out for major rivers like Ganga, Sharda, Rapti, Kosi, Bagmati, Subansari, Krishna, Mahanadi, Mahanada. These studies aid in finding the vulnerable spots for bank erosion/deposition, aggradations/ degradation etc. As per the morphological study of Brahmaputra river conducted by Central Water Commission through consultancy from IIT Guwahati, it has been estimated that in the Brahmaputra river, total erosion of 252.6 sq. km. and deposition of 118.6 sq. km. occurred between 2003-05 and 2008-11.

(c) to (e)  Government of India has been receiving proposals from the States/Union Territories for inclusion of  flood  management/anti-erosion  projects  for  central  assistance  under  ongoing  Flood  Management  and Border Area Programme (FMBAP) of Ministry of Jal Shakti. Under FMBAP, provision for central funding has  been  made  during  2017-21  for  prioritized  completion  of  ongoing  projects.  During  last  five  years, central  assistance  of  Rs.  292.63  crore,  Rs.  284.07  crore,  Rs.  472.64  crore  &  Rs.  19.05  crore  has  been released to the States of Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala, respectively.

Flood protection and flood management measures are broadly classified as under-

(i)       Structural Measures - The structural measures for flood control which bring relief to the flood prone areas  by  reducing  flood  flows  through  storage  or  confining  the  flows  within  banks  by  construction  of embankments and thereby reducing the flood levels.

(ii)      Non-Structural Measures- Facilitating timely evacuation of the people and shifting of their movable property  to  safer  grounds  by  having  advance  warning  of  incoming  flood  through  setting  up  a  flood forecasting system. Discouraging creation of valuable assets/settlement of the people in the areas subject to frequent flooding i.e. enforcing flood plain zoning regulation.

Integrated flood approach aims at adopting judicious mix of structural and non-structural measures to provide protection against flood damages at economic cost through a combination of structural and nonstructural measures.

To  strengthen  the  structural  measures  of  flood  management,  during  XI  &  XII  Plan,  Ministry  has launched Flood Management Programme (FMP) for providing central assistance to States for works related to  flood  management,  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 and extended up to December, 2021. So far Central Assistance amounting to Rs. 6,447.76 crore has been released to State Governments/Union Territories under this programme. 415 projects completed under this programme have given protection to an area of around 4.994 million hectares and protected a population of about 52.21 million.

For non structural measures, Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal Organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting and early flood warnings in the country. Presently, CWC issues flood forecasts for forecasting stations.  The number of forecast stations has increased from 175 in the year 2014 to 331 in the year 2021. These stations cover 20 major river basins in 23 States and 2 Union Territories.  In order  to  provide  more  lead  time  to  the  local  authorities  to  plan  evacuation  of  people  and  take  remedial measures, CWC has developed basin wise deterministic flood forecasting model based on rainfall runoff mathematical  modelling  for  5  days'  advance  flood  forecast  advisory  at  identified  flood  forecasting  and inflow forecasting stations along rivers of India.

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