2008 Kosi flood now a forgotten chapter for government: Victims
Patna,(BiharTimes): Eight years after the devastating Kosi deluge thousands of people are yet to be rehabilitated and the World Bank loan taken by the government has been diverted for other works.
This was the common refrain of the protest demonstration organized in Madhepura on Thursday to mark the eighth anniversary of the flood, which took huge toll of lives and displaced millions of people.
The sit-in was organized in front of Kala Bhawan in Madhepura town by Kosi Navnirman Manch. A five-point charter of demands was also submitted to the district magistrate Mohammad Suhail.
The Press Note released by the founder of the Manch, Mahindra Yadav, said that the state government is yet to take action on the report submitted by Walia Commission. Eight years after the tragedy thousands of people are still homeless yet the elected representatives are looking the other way round.
It needs to be recalled that on August 18, 2008 the eastern Kosi embankment was breached at Kusaha in Nepal, not far away from the border with India. The devastating flood swept away thousands of cattle and human being. As high as 33 lakh people living in at least half a dozen didstricts were displaced and chief minister Nitish Kumar, after making an aerial survey called it a ‘parlay’.
A week later the then prime minister Manmohan Singh too made an aerial survey of the affected districts and assured full help to the state government.
The worst affected districts were Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Saharsa.
Alleging that the people of the region are feeling cheated the Manch charged that 250 million dollar World Bank loan taken for rehabilitation had been diverted for other works.
The Manch demanded a White Paper from the government on the works done in this regards; rehabilitation of all the people displaced by floods; immediate action on the Walia Commission report constituted by the state government after the flood and immediate halt to corruption and irregularities in all flood related works.
The Press Note quoting government report said 236,632 houses were destroyed during flood but World Bank loan was taken to build only 100,000 houses. The house building target was reduced to 66,203. Thus the loan amount was diverted elsewhere.
In Madhepura district alone 9,2343 houses were destroyed.
The secretary of the Kisan Sansad, Shambhu Sharan Bharati, presided over the sit-in.
Besides, the president of Kosi Navnirman Manch, Ramji Das, Lakhan Kumar, Vijendra Das, Ramroop Paswan, Shivnandan Mukhiya, Sachin Paswan, Chandeshwari Sharma, Chandan, Shambhu Kumar, Trilok, Sikandar, Raju Khan, Lalu Thakur, Turwasi, Prabhat Kumar Bharati, Ajay, Phul Kumar Paswan, Deep Narayan, Asif as well as Subhash, Chandrahas, Pramod Kumar, Surya Narayan, Shamim, Dilip, Dipak of IPTA took part in the sit-in.
