(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to deal with floods across the country particularly in Bihar; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to deal with floods across the country particularly in Bihar; and
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
(SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)
(a) & (b) Floods are natural calamity that the country faces almost every year, in varying degrees of magnitude. The occurrence of floods can be attributed to various factors, including wide variations in rainfall both in time and space with frequent departures from the normal pattern, inadequate carrying capacities of rivers, river bank erosion and silting of river beds, landslides, poor natural drainage in flood prone areas, snowmelt and glacial lake out-bursts. Flood management schemes are formulated and implemented by concerned State Governments as per their priority. The Union Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing technical guidance and also promotional financial assistance for management of floods in critical areas. The Government of India has been making continuous efforts to assist the State Governments in effective flood management. During XI Plan Government of India had launched Flood Management Programme (FMP) for providing Central Assistance to States for works related to flood management and erosion control which continued during XII Plan and thereafter, as a component of "Flood Management and Border Areas Programme" (FMBAP) for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21. Central Assistance to the tune of Rs.924.41 Crores has been provided to State of Bihar up to March 2021 under FMP component of this Programme. Main reason for floods in the State of Bihar is on account of increased discharge in rivers of North Bihar like Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Bagmati, Kamla, Kosi and Mahananda due to heavy rainfall in the upper catchment areas which mainly lie in Nepal. The management of floods due to these rivers has been a concern. The related issues are discussed in the existing Indo-Nepal bilateral mechanisms comprising of (i) Joint Ministerial Level Commission on Water Resources (JMCWR) (ii) Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) (iii) Joint Standing Technical Committee (JSTC), (iv) Joint Committee on Gandak & Kosi Projects (JCKGP) and (v) Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM). Government of India is having regular dialogue with the Government of Nepal for construction of dams on these rivers for mutual benefit of the two countries which includes flood control.
As far as non structural measures of flood management are concerned, Central Water Commission (CWC) is the nodal Organisation entrusted with the task of flood forecasting & early flood warnings in the country. Presently, CWC issues flood forecasts for 328 forecasting stations (190 river level forecast stations & 138 dam/ barrage inflow forecast stations). These stations cover 20 major river basins in 23 States & 2 Union Territories. Out of these 328 stations, 43 stations (3-inflow & 40 level forecast) are located in Bihar. Performance of Flood Forecasting Stations in India during Flood Season 2020 is attached at Annexure-I.
*****
ANNEXURE-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1808 TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 29.07.2021 REGARDING “FLOODS IN BIHAR”
Performance of Flood Forecasting Stations (State-wise) in India during Flood Season 2020
Sl.
No Name of the Major River basin Total no.of FF sites No.of FF sites where no forecast was issued Level Forecasts Inflow Forecasts Overall Forecasts
Total no Level FF sites Inflow FF sites Total no Level FF sites Inflow FF sites Total No. Within limits Accuracy (%) Total No. Within limits Accuracy (%) Total No. Within limits Accuracy (%)
1 Andhra Pradesh 20 10 10 3 1 2 97 81 83.51 659 608 92.26 756 689 91.14
2 Arunachal Pradesh 3 3 0 2 2 0 130 129 99.23 0 0 - 130 129 99.23
3 Assam 30 30 0 3 3 0 3094 3081 99.58 0 0 - 3094 3081 99.58
4 Bihar 43 40 3 6 5 1 3213 3192 99.35 10 0 0.00 3223 3192 99.04
5 Chattisgarh 3 1 2 0 0 0 6 5 83.33 11 9 81.82 17 14 82.35
6 Daman n Diu 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
7 Gujarat 13 6 7 5 3 2 29 29 100.00 155 151 97.42 184 180 97.83
8 Haryana 2 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
9 Himachal Pradesh 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
10 Jammu & Kashmir 3 3 0 3 3 0 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
11 Jharkhand 17 2 15 10 1 9 90 90 100.00 274 249 90.88 364 339 93.13
12 Karnataka 15 1 14 1 0 1 13 10 76.92 870 783 90.00 883 793 89.81
13 Kerala 5 3 2 1 1 0 15 15 100.00 19 11 57.89 34 26 76.47
14 Madhya Pradesh 12 2 10 0 0 0 52 52 100.00 183 138 75.41 235 190 80.85
15 Maharashtra 21 8 13 12 6 6 25 25 100.00 128 111 86.72 153 136 88.89
16 NCT, DELHI 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
17 Odisha 19 12 7 5 0 5 155 135 87.10 111 104 93.69 266 239 89.85
18 Rajasthan 14 3 11 4 1 3 10 9 90.00 49 23 46.94 59 32 54.24
19 Sikkim 8 3 5 8 3 5 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
20 Tamilnadu 15 4 11 8 4 4 0 0 - 445 370 83.15 445 370 83.15
21 Telangana 13 5 8 2 1 1 44 40 90.91 291 270 92.78 335 310 92.54
22 Tripura 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
23 Uttar Pradesh 44 39 5 22 22 0 803 800 99.63 108 80 74.07 911 880 96.60
24 Uttarakhand 6 4 2 2 1 1 15 14 93.33 7 7 100.00 22 21 95.45
25 West Bengal 16 12 4 6 5 1 452 426 94.25 158 151 95.57 610 577 94.59
Total 328 198 130 111 69 42 8243 8133 98.67 3478 3065 88.13 11721 11198 95.54
*****