Lok Sabha Question No. 304 (STARRED), answered on 2023-08-10
Subject: Soil Erosion Caused by Floods in Bihar
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Dulal Chandra Goswami

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

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *304

ANSWERED ON 10.08.2023

## SOIL EROSION CAUSED BY FLOODS IN BIHAR

## †*304 SHRI DULAL CHANDRA GOSWAMI

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government proposes to formulate any scheme to check soil erosion caused by large scale floods in major rivers like Mahananda, Ganga and Kosi in the State of Bihar;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  large  chunk  of  population  living  in  the  villages  in  Manihari,  Amdabad,  Burari,  Jursela, Kadwa, Azamnagar, Pranpur blocks in Katihar district of Bihar are badly affected by large scale soil erosion every year caused due to floods in Mahananda, Ganga and Kosi rivers;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether any permanent solution is proposed by the Government in this regard and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI

(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

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

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO. *304 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.08.2023 REGARDING 'SOIL EROSION CAUSED BY FLOODS IN BIHAR'.

(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. 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.  The Government of  India  has  been  making  continuous  efforts  to  assist  the  State  Governments  in  effective  flood management and erosion control.

Morphological  studies  using  remote  sensing  technique  have  been  carried  out  for  major  rivers  like Brahmaputra, Ganga, Sharda, Rapti, Subansari, Krishna, Tungbhadra, Mahanadi, Mahananda, etc. These studies play an important role in understanding the nature of rivers in a comprehensive manner and provide assessment of decadal bank-line movement, erosion and deposition in different reaches in respect of base year, derivation of reach-wise  morphological  indices  and  identification  of  critical  reaches.  These  studies  have  been  shared  with concerned State Governments and other stakeholders etc. for taking informed decision and future planning.

To strengthen the structural measures of flood management, Union Government had implemented Flood Management Programme (FMP) during XI & XII Plans for providing central assistance to States for works related  to  flood  control,  anti-erosion,  drainage  development,  anti-sea  erosion,  etc.  FMP  continued  as  a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21 and was further extended up to September 2022 with limited outlay. In Bihar,  42 projects completed under FMP component of FMBAP have given protection to an area of around 28.67 lakh ha and protected a population of more than 2.2 crore.

(c)  &  (d) As  per  information  received  from  State  Government  of  Bihar,   villages  in  Amdabad,  Kadwa, Azamnagar and Pranpur blocks in Katihar district along river Mahananda,  and Manihari, Burari and Kursela blocks  in  Katihar  district  along  river  Ganga,  are  affected  by  soil  erosion  caused  due  to  floods.   The  State Government has reported that in the three year period of 2020 to 2022,  368 villages and 7.30 lakh people were affected due to flood in Katihar district in the year 2021 and 115 villages and 57,000 people were affected in the same district in the year 2022.

(e) Main reason for floods and erosion in the State of Bihar is on account of increased discharge in rivers of North Bihar like Gandak, Burhi Gandak, 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 India-Nepal bilateral mechanisms comprising (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  for construction of dams on these rivers for mutual benefit of the two countries which includes flood control.