More rain may spell danger for Kosi belt

On Monday, Water Resources Department (WRD) engineers and officials heaved a sigh of relief with the Kosi discharge coming down by Tuesday afternoon (3 pm).

But this may be temporary. Heavy rains in the catchments area of Kosi in Nepal on Monday night and Tuesday morning —Nepal registered 140 mm of rain in last 24 hours —is likely to raise the discharge level from Kosi barrage to over 3 lakh cusecs by Wednesday morning.

WRD and Disaster Management Department officers were taking no chances this time. They have issued instructions to district magistrates (DMs) and superintendents of police (SPs) of all the bordering districts to maintain round-the-clock vigil on embankments. “We are prepared,” said WRD Principal Secretary Ajay Nayak. “We are getting full co-operation from Nepal,” he added.

Taking a lesson from past mistakes, top Indo-Nepal administrative officers have decided to meet at Dharan in Nepal on July 31 to discuss a joint strategy to fight floods as well as to keep surveillance on the barrage in the Himalayan republic.

Supaul District Magistrate Kumar Ravi said a decision to hold the joint meeting was taken after a patrolling was carried out from Gopalpur to Kusaha barrage in Nepal on Tuesday.

The DM said a team of officials, led by the Saharsa Divisional Commissioner Sudhir Kumar, carried out the patrolling and found the embankment quite safe.