Kosi’s sorrow set to last until winter

That breach, 12 km upstream from the India-Nepal border, which happened on August 18, was just 400 m but is now almost 1.7 km long and its repair has to wait until the waters recede.

Water volume has only risen in the past two days from an average of 1.25 lakh cusecs to 1.80 lakh cusecs due to heavy rains. And according to the latest Met report made available to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar today, more rainfall, about 50 mm, is forecast in the next two days. This not only makes the picture look grim but also raises the possibility of more areas being affected in the coming days as water volume is estimated to increase to 2.5 lakh cusecs. The worst on the Kosi has been 9 lakh cusecs in a flood in the pre-Independence period.

While no repair of the breach can be undertaken for the next few months till the water volume reduces substantially below 50,000 cusecs, the CMG in consultation with the Ganga Flood Control Commission has come up with a three-pronged strategy to divert water from the eastern embankment to the west:

• The first step is to move porcupines — massive conical concrete structures — to the breach site from wherever possible. These will be placed where the breach is to prevent any further increase in the already 1.7-km breach and also deflect the water to the western side.

• The second step involves driving metal sheet piles into the river bed near the breach site. The CMG has been informed that about 30 metric tonnes of metal sheet piles are ready for movement from Farakka. These will be used to deflect the water westwards.

• The third step is to build an 8-km long and about 6-m wide water channel so that diverted water is given a passage back to the original route.

... contd.