A Review of Flood Control Policy in Bihar (India)

Abstract

Bihar is the second largest state in respect of population and ninth in area in India and is the most flood-affected state in the entire country. It is the northern part of the state which is most affected by the floods. Of the total geographical area of 1738.8 million ha. of the state 44.47 (25.33%) is affected by floods in North Bihar. Floods in Bihar plains date back to antiquity and were instrumental in rise and fall of several empires in the region .It were floods in the early 7th century B.C. which provided the basis for rise of agriculture based permanent societies in this region. Development in form of railways and highways created impediments in the way of rivers causing recurrent floods in the plains of Bihar. The absence of culverts on these rail and road bunds made the situation more serious. A significant problem due to embanking has been that of drainage congestion, especially in North Bihar, which is a high rainfall zone with a large run-off area. During heavy rains this water accumulates at all the points where embankments of two rivers meet. Since an extensive network of rivers drains North Bihar and because they have been embanked to a great extent, this aspect of congestion has assumed alarming dimensions. The paper tries to look into the issues, and strategies to overcome these problems in the state of Bihar, India.

Keywords: Flood control, Embankments, Bihar, India

JEL Classification: O13, O18, Q18, Q19