Patna, June 11: The Bihar government today executed an overhauling of the top level engineering set-up manning the Kosi region, a day after the first session of the two-day talks between engineers and experts from India and Nepal ended in Kathmandu without any “tangible result”.

Chief engineer, Birpur circle, Chandrashekhar Paswan, and his technical secretary, Kishore Kumar, have been removed from the “crucial” positions in the run-up to the breaking of monsoon.

The Birpur circle is in charge of administering the Bhimnagar Barrage (Nepal) on the river Kosi and also the eastern and western embankments in the Himalayan republic.

Paswan and Kumar have been shifted to the minor irrigation department which has nothing to do with floods or disasters.

The government has replaced Chandrashekhar with Rajesh Kumar, who was so far working as chief engineer, water resources, Purnea circle. Kumar’s place will be taken by Sushil Kumar Singh, so far posted in same rank in Tirhut division in Raxaul on the India-Nepal border.

The government is believed to be “alarmed” at the Kosi shifting eastward and increasing pressure on the eastern embankment. The sources revealed that it has executed the shifting at the top level engineering set-up, particularly in the Kosi region, on “administrative grounds and failure of the engineers in question to come up to the expectations” at a time when a crisis is looming large in the region.

Ahead of leaving Patna for New Delhi on way to China, chief minister Nitish Kumar gave the “go-ahead” to overhaul. Chief engineer (mechanical), water resources department, K.N. Lal too has been shifted, also, like Paswan, to the minor irrigation department. Chief engineer, minor irrigation, Vishwanath Choudhary has replaced Lal.

The government has also moved out the superintending engineer of the Kosi circle, B.N. Thakur, to the rural engineering department. A professor at the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI) here, Harish Kumar, has been appointed as the new superintending engineer of the Kosi circle.

Four engineers have been promoted to the rank of chief engineer and posted in the flood ravaged zones to shore up flood preparedness in the areas which are inundated almost every year. They are Tejnarayan Ram (Darbhanga), Kailu Sardar (Bhagalpur), Suresh Choudhary (Purnea) and Kamlesh Choudhary (rural engineering).