Damage to embankments of the Kosi and the Ganga at Naugachia in Bhagalpur has once again raised flood fears among residents.

Bhagalpur divisional commissioner Minhaj Alam has constituted a team to probe into the recurring damage to rivers’ embankments after construction that has resulted in a loss of over Rs 175 crore in the past five years.

Alam has asked state water resources department to explain how the Piparpanti embankment of the Kosi and the Ganga, which had been repaired in May this year at a cost of Rs 2.67 crore, was washed out this month.

About 400 metres of the 700-metre embankment at Mircha-Piparpanti, repaired by a Purnea-based contractor, has been damaged.

“It is not a new incident. Every year, we are witnesses to the same action of the water resources department. The officials do not conduct the work properly. Each time there is flood, the government sanctions a fresh amount for repair works but we have to face the losses,” Surendar Yadav, a resident of Piparpanti, said.

Water resources department executive engineer G.N. Singh has admitted that the embankments was damaged mainly because of the increasing current of the Kosi and the Ganga.

“Spur numbers 4 and 6 between Ismailpur-Bindtoli in Gopalpur block have been damaged. The swelling river has also has started posing a threat to spur number 7 there. Breaches have also appeared on Raghopur and Khairpur embankment,” Singh said.

Sources told The Telegraph that with the initiative of S.C. Jha, the Prime Minister’s economic adviser, the Centre sanctioned Rs 13 crore in 2007 for repair of the embankments but the work could not be completed.

Again in 2008, Rs 23 crore and in 2009, Rs 50 crore was sanctioned but that could not prevent the damage to standing crops and homes of hundreds of people in Gopalpur, Kazikoriya, Kharik and Raghopur, who were displaced because of the floods.

Gourav Roy, a villager, said: “Last year, Rs 3.5 crore was spent for repair of the Bagjan embankment at Bihpur but several breaches have surfaced there this year. By the look of it, the embankment can be damaged anytime.”

He alleged that the repair and subsequent damage of the embankment from Khairpur to Raghopur has been a recurring phenomenon between 2006 and 2011.

More than Rs 87 crore has been spent on it so far. Breaches have appeared on the banks at Ismailpur and Gopalpur, which were repaired in 2011.

According to Bhagalpur division of water resources department chief engineer Kailu Sardar, Rs 14 crore and Rs 23 crore has been spent on repairing the two embankments, respectively, before monsoon in 2011 but because of the change of the direction of the river’s current it has become very difficult for officials to control the damage.

Villagers, however, blamed the low standard of works behind the recurring trouble. “Instead of finding a permanent solution to control the threat of the floods, they (water resources department) always prefer to go for flood fighting works in the eleventh hour,” said Lallan Roy, a social worker at Gopalpur.