Ridges of disaster
The Task Force for Flood Management and Erosion Control Report of 2004 iterates what the Centre For Science and Environment publication (State of the Environment 1991) had said. It notes that the construction of embankments has had a disastrous impact. Though the absence of data is a severe constraint in making an objective assessment of the impacts of embankments, there are reasonable indicators which can help to judge them. Local environmentalists confirm that the beds of most rivers in north Bihar have gone up following the construction of embankments. The relief and rehabilitation commissioner in his report on the floods of 1987 had admitted that siltation has had a negative impact on flood discharge capacity of river Kosi. Restricted by embankments the river cannot flood. So, there is continuous silt deposition on the riverbed. The water level rises and often bursts these embankments. By 1974, some 2,192 km length of embankments had been constructed in Bihar and the government claimed that by so doing, it has protected 15 lakh hectares (ha). The flood prone area of the state then was 43 lakh ha. By 1987, there were 3,421 km of embankment length ready in Bihar and they were said to protected 28.73 lakh ha. But in the meanwhile, the flood prone area in Bihar had risen to 64.61 lakh ha. By 2004, some 3,465 km length of embankment were constructed in Bihar. Some 24 kilometers of them were located in Jharkhand after the state was bifurcated and 11 kilometers of them were washed away. The state has, at the moment has 3,430 km length of embankments. The flood prone area of the state, meanwhile has gone up to 68.8 lakh ha.