Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday declared the Bihar floods a “national calamity” and announced immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for rescue and relief operations and 1.25 lakh tonnes of foodgrains.

A day earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads a JD(U)-BJP coalition, showed Singh a 2004 satellite image to make the point that his Government cannot be faulted for not taking steps to prevent the flooding — the satellite image, official sources said, clearly showed that the Kosi embankment had come under pressure four years ago at the same place where it breached the barrier on August 18.

The western channel of the Kosi was blocked and the eastern channel was under pressure.

In 2004, Bihar was under RJD rule. Sources said that Nitish Kumar, by presenting the PM with factual data from 2004, was making the point that the river embankment upkeep was either poor or did not receive the attention it should have from the then RJD government.

He pointed out that the Kosi had been changing course from 1979, shifting from east to west and now again back to west.

Sources said Nitish Kumar told the PM that a day before the embankment breached 12.9 km upstream of the Kosi barrage on the Nepalese side, he had urged External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take up the matter with Kathmandu. Mukherjee got back to him saying that Nepal was preparing for the swearing-in of Prachanda as Prime Minister and there was no authority who could deliver immediately, the sources said.

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