Jal Jamao Virodhee Sangharsh Samiti

The following is the text of a pamphlet brought out in October/November 2002 to mobilise support of citizens and farmers for discussing issues arising out of water logging. This pamphlets sheds light on many aspects of water logging in the area.

Friends,

Saran Main Canal passes through the old Saran district (presently Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj districts) and forms a part of the Gandak Project. Foundation stone of the Gandak Project was laid by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1964 but this project is not yet completed. Although these canals cover a vast area in these districts, actual irrigation from them is occasional and scanty. The State government ordered the completion of the first phase of the canals in 1985 while the project was in different stages of completion. The second phase that started in 1985 was programmed to take up various drainage schemes in the Gandak Command area. Thus, while the construction of the canals remained incomplete, plans were made to take up the water logging problem. The net result is that neither the canals are complete nor there is any work being carried on the water logging front. Seepage from the canals, frequent breaches in them, and the high spring level that existed in this area prior to the construction of the canal system had added together to bring the water logging to menacing proportions in the Gandak Command. Water logging in any area is not manifested in only the visible form. Excessive rise in the spring level is enough for the crops to wither away. All this is now happening in the Gandak Command and the Government has turned a blind eye to the problems faced by the farmers. There has been a promise galore but no work on the ground. Blockage of drainage has prolonged the clearance of water from the chaurs (land depressions) and that has left the chaurs like Haradia, Belaura Tal, Amwari, Kamal Pur, Bahiyar, Inglis, Purania, Kuraina, Radhia and Lachchhi Kaituka at the mercy of nature. It is interesting to note that the drainage of Hardia Chaur is being planned since 1870s without any result.

Canals are not the lone culprit to aggravate water logging in the area. Unscientific construction of roads, railway lines and embankments have added to the problem. Gandak Command, generally is not a flooded area but ask any farmer in the region and he will tell you how the problem of water logging has risen in his area and he will also point towards some structure like road, canal, embankment or a rail line that after the construction of which his miseries have increased manifold. Deforestation, reckless exploitation of forest produce and the accompanying corruption and bullying has added insult to injury. The population pressure on land is high as the British had said way back in 1882, that the land of Saran cannot accommodate any further rise in population of Saran. Water logging has worsened the situation leading to further pauperization of the population and exploitation by the vested interests.

A report of the Water Resources Department (WRD) of Bihar suggests that some 9.42 lakhs hectares of land in the state is waterlogged. Of this, 8.36 lakhs hectare is located on the north of the Ganga and the remaining 1.06 lakhs is in the south. WRD claims that it has cleared 65,000 hectares of land from water logging but it does not tell where that land is located. It had constituted a special task force, on the directions of the Planning Commission, to study the water logging problem in the state and it recommended the execution of 11 of 13 drainage schemes in the command areas of the Gandak and the Kosi Projects, respectively at an estimated cost of Rs. 318.08 crores. It was expected that after taking of these schemes, some 1.50 lakh hectares of land would be cleared of water logging. The proposal sounds interesting but there is no money available to take up the schemes.

Somehow, the state allocated a sum of Rs. 5 crores for the purpose in 1998-99 but when the engineers went on to the site to do the job, they found that tens of years have lapsed since the plans were prepared and the ground conditions have changed significantly and that fresh plans will have to be made. This was possible only when the chaur was re-surveyed and for this, it must be dry. One year was lost in waiting for the chaur to get dried and the work could only be taken up only in 1999-2000. The WRD claims that it has cleared 886 hectares of land from water logging at an investment of Rs. 1 crore. This is only work that the state has done in the past 16 years. It does not tell where this chaur is located nor it tells whether the work has been successful. Money, of course was spent.

The question is, if the government has been able to spend Rs. One crore in the clearance of water logging after a lapse of ten years in the state, how many centuries will it need to spend the remaining 317 crores.

One is not sure if these schemes will ever succeed because the drainage from the chaurs will have to be led to the river whose bed level is already higher than the countryside and unless an embankment is done away with or an unusually long drain dug to match the levels not a drop of water will get into the river. If the engineers are asked why the water logging is on rise, they are prompt enough to say that the project has nothing to do with it, the land was already waterlogged even prior to the taking up of the Gandak Project. Now if one asks them as to why the canals were constructed in this area if it was already waterlogged. They have no answer to this question.

It is certain, therefore, that agriculture will suffer with the rise in water logging. There is a large number of landless labours in our area and the holdings are also not big. If some of our land is lost in canals and a sizeable chunk in the water logging, what will remain with us to bank upon. There will be no option left before us than to go to Delhi and Punjab to make our living which is what is happening at the moment.

What these canals have been built for? It is to provide employment to engineers and jobs to contractors or whether these are built to complete the formalities of the Government that is doing some work? If these canals are built for the benefit of farmers, then will somebody listen to what the farmers have to say in the matter and that is their opinion that should run supreme.

With a view to discuss these issues and devices the future strategies, Jal Jamav Virodhee Sangharsh Samiti is organizing a meeting of the concerned citizen and representatives of farmers on the 5th and 6th of December 2002 in the Sonpur Mela. The Samiti solicits your presence on this occasion.