Army jawans distribute food packets among villagers in Barsam in Saharsa district. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Bhagalpur, Sept. 15: A debate has risen between two sections of people — one who believe that Kosi should be tamed and the other letting the river flow its course in two separate tributaries.

From the layman to the expert, every one now has say about Kosi’s new course.

“Kosi should be allowed to flow in two different directions — the original and the new — to counter the intensity of floods. Maintaining two flows would mean that the river would cultivate new areas,” said a Devnarayan Shaw, the convenor of Rehabilitated and Floods Victims Welfare Organisation in Saharsa.

His plan has found a supporter in chief minister Nitish Kumar. Nitish recently said that the government has decided to utilise the “new Kosi” for the region’s development. He, however, urged the Centre to start a new barrage at Kusha where the river broke its embankment and developed a new course.

Dinesh Mishra, an expert on Kosi affairs, cleared that the river has now started to flow beside Madhepura between the NH-107 (Maheshkuth-Purnea) and NH-106 (Bihapur-Birpur). Satellite pictures show that the river migrated more than 72km towards west from 1950. The study of the change shows that from 1770 to 1825, the river shifted an average of 2.1kms.

Bijoy, a social worker, pointed out that only a new diversion would not help to “tame” Kosi and that regular maintenance is a “must”. “Embankments become choked with silt, seepage occurs and forces the water table to rise. Embankments have been raised 2m since their construction in order to keep pace with the rising riverbed,” he added. Hemchandra Sirohi, special flood commissioner of Madhepura, Saharsa and Supaul believe that the water resource department should be roped in the matter. “The new course from Baluaha in Madhepura could be developed for irrigation,” he said.

Till the arguments continue, Budhani Devi and her daughters-in-law will continue to worship “Kosi Maa” every morning, along with residents of Patharghat in Saharsa, who have included the name of the river in the list of their deities — the only way they know to control its fury.

Nitish flayed

The Opposition RJD today issued a chargesheet against Nitish accusing him of criminal neglect that led to the breach in the Kosi embankment on August 18, which in turn affected over 30 lakh people in five districts.

Senior leader Jagadanand Singh, who was the state’s water resources minister for 15 years during the Lalu-Rabri regime, said Nitish had committed an offence by his failure to protect the spurs.