Bihar: Govt falsifying flood victims’ house-loss claims despite credible records

Bharat Yadav (46), a native of Khoknaha village under the Morauna block of Supaul district in Bihar, is a harried person. In 2021, his house vanished in the gushing currents of the flooded Kosi before he could collect his belongings. He, however, managed to save the lives of his family and got settled near 5,720 points of the eastern Kosi embankment in the hope for an elusive compensation from the district.

Vijay Rai and Ram Pravesh Rai of Sonbarsha village under Bauraha panchayat of Kishanpur block of the same district had similar fates. They have taken a temporary shelter on the side of national highway-57, and are waiting for compensation for their losses after exploring all remedies, including the high court.

These are among the 1,220 residents of five villages– Sonbarsha, Jobhan, Khoknaha, Sukela and Maricha, who have been running from pillar to post to get compensation for the loss of their houses in the floods.

The then district magistrate (DM) Mahendra Kumar had in November 2021, acknowledged the villagers’ claim, based on the reports from the disaster management wing, and asked for allotment to the tune of ₹50.02 lakh from the disaster management department (DMD) for compensation of the victims. However, the subsequent bureaucratic shuffle, which saw Kaushal Kishore being placed as the new DM in January 2022, complicated their sufferings.

Not only, the DM rejected their ‘legitimate’ claims, but also outright denied that the district was devastated by the floods in 2021 in an affidavit filed in the Patna high court.

With 351 fatalities, Bihar recorded the highest number of deaths due to flood in 2021, as per the report from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on accidental deaths and suicides in India (ADSI).

Mahendra Yadav, a social activist, who is spearheading a campaign for payment of compensation to the beleaguered villagers, said that he had filed a writ petition in the Patna high court in May 2022, when the district authorities refused to entertain the claims. “However, the hope for justice was taken far away after the additional sub-divisional magistrate (additional SDM) Anant Kumar filed an affidavit claiming that there was no flood in the district,” said Yadav.

The Patna high court had in November 2022 disposed of the case, asking the petitioners to appeal before the DMD with valid documents. Mahendra Yadav said that the DMD continued to deny the claim, citing the affidavit of the additional SDM, while turning a blind eye to its own records and the then DM’s requisition for the compensation.

The final flood report, released by the DMD in the wake of the 2021 floods, also admitted that 17 villages of five blocks of Supaul had been affected by the floods. The report further stated that as many as 1,220 houses were damaged due to the surging currents of Kosi in the district.

As the DMD continued to be in denial mode, the aggrieved villagers are again contemplating filing another writ to seek justice.

Additional chief secretary, DMD, Pratyay Amrit refused to reply on the issue despite repeated phone calls and messages to his mobile numbers. An officer on special duty (OSD) of the department said that he would reply only after verification of the documents and disconnected the call.