Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi inaugurates the Champaran Sanskritik Mahotsav in Motihari on Monday. Picture by Ajit Kumar Verma

Chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, appealed to him to take personal initiative in getting flood protection and irrigation projects for Bihar cleared by the Centre.

“Over 17 per cent of the flood-prone areas of the country falls in Bihar,” Manjhi said in his letter sent on November 6 and released to the media on Monday.

The chief minister pointed out that the office for preparing the detailed project report for the Saptkosi multi-purpose high dam was set up in 2004. “The survey and the report were to be prepared within 30 months. But it still has not been prepared and the new date has been fixed for 2015,” Manjhi stated in his letter. He also pointed towards the complex process for clearing anti-flood projects by the Centre, as the proposal had to be cleared by several bodies and suggested that the process should be simplified.

Manjhi pointed out that the state was yet to receive Rs 44 crore for work done in 2012-13 under the river management activities and work related to border areas apart from stressing on the formulation of a silt management policy because of the heavy siltation and flooding of north Bihar in monsoon by all rivers coming from Nepal.

Stressed on help for building infrastructure for alerting the masses on coming floods, the chief minister said: “The help of government of Nepal for collecting relevant data is essential.”

He also pointed out in the letter that several irrigational projects were inter-state-related and could not be implemented in spite of heavy investment already made. He referred to the North Koel reservoir project in which Rs 700 crore had been sunk. “Only the gates have to be installed. But it cannot be done because of the uncooperative attitude of the Jharkhand government,” Manjhi said.

The issue of clearance of the Indrapuri reservoir project, pending with the Centre for a long time, also found mention in the latter. The project aims at producing 450MW hydropower.

Manjhi said another project, the Mahananda irrigation project, was pending for clearance from the Centre because of lack of support from the Bengal government.

The chief minister pointed out that river transportation between Haldia and Allahabad was announced on the Ganga was announced as National Waterway-I.

However, there were plans for several barrages, which would obstruct the flow and help maintain the minimum water-level at 3m. He added that Bihar has had to face losses because of the Farakka barrage.