Bihar minister inspects Kosi embankment repair in Nepal

August 4th, 2009 PATNA - Around 50,000 people are still stranded in flood-hit Bihar though the Bagmati river, which breached its embankment and inundated nearly 200 villages in Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur districts, has started to recede. Officials have intensified rescue work to help the 200,000 people affected by the flood.

August 2nd, 2009 PATNA - A day after a breach in the embankment of Bagmati river in Bihar's Sitamarhi district flooded nearly 200 villages and left nearly 100,000 people homeless, the political blame game has begun with the opposition Sunday holding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar responsible for the floods. "The breach in the Bagmati embankment was the result of the state government's negligence.

August 1st, 2009 PATNA - At least one woman was drowned as more than 100 villages were flooded in Bihar's Sitamarhi district after the Bagmati river breached its embankment early Saturday, officials said. Many villages in the state's Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts were also inundated.

August 1st, 2009 PATNA - At least one woman was drowned as nearly 200 villages were flooded in Bihar's Sitamarhi district after the Bagmati river breached its embankment early Saturday, officials said. Many villages in the state's Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts were also inundated.

July 28th, 2009 PATNA - A record water discharge into the Kosi river from Nepal has revived fears of a repeat of last year's devastating floods in Bihar. The state government has sounded a high alert as the increasing water levels pose a threat to the river's embankment, officials said Tuesday.

July 14th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Within 48 hours of Indian Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal visiting Nepal to inspect the repaired embankment of the Kosi river that had created havoc in both countries last year, India gave Nepal NRs.131.6 million (about $1.6 million) to fight floods. Alok K. Sinha, deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, Tuesday handed over a cheque of NRs.131.6 million to Umakant Jha, secretary at Nepal's irrigation ministry, as India's contribution for the construction of embankments along the Lalbakeya and Bagmati rivers.

July 12th, 2009 KATHMANDU - India's Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal Sunday wound up an inspection of the Kosi river in Nepal, and suggested a high dam as a permanent solution to frequent floods of the river that hit both countries. The minister, who was personally sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that the mighty Kosi does not wreak the disaster it unleashed last monsoon, Sunday inspected the eastern embankment of the river that was breached by swirling waters, killing over 1,000 people in southern Nepal and India's Bihar state.

July 10th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Less than a month after India sent its Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon to Nepal, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal is arriving in Kathmandu on a two-day visit Saturday. Bansal is the first Indian minister to visit Nepal since the fall of the Maoist government in August and the formation of a new coalition led by communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

July 10th, 2009 PATNA - Fearing a repeat of last year's devastating floods, the Bihar government has requested Nepal to deploy armed security forces on embankments of the Kosi river to ensure that there is no breach, officials here said Friday. In a letter to the Nepal government, Bihar's department of water resources has highlighted the need for deployment of security forces to ensure the safety of the embankments on the river that is already in spate.

July 8th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Indian wagon-maker Jessop and Company Ltd will be asked to undertake an unusual project in Nepal: repair the nearly five-decade old barrage on the Kosi river that has been flooding southern Nepal and India's Bihar state with chilling regularity. With the advent of monsoon in Nepal and the volume of water rising in the Kosi, one of the sluice gates in the Kosi barrage was damaged badly last week.

July 3rd, 2009 PATNA - Major rivers in north Bihar, especially the Kosi, Gandak, Budhi and Bagmati, are in spate following heavy rains in their catchment areas and are posing a threat of floods, officials said Friday. With heavy rainfall recorded in the catchments areas in neighbouring Nepal, the water levels of these rivers have been rising to dangerous levels for the last two days.

July 1st, 2009 PATNA - The fear of a repeat of last year's devastating floods is haunting thousands of people in Bihar following a record water discharge into the Kosi river from Nepal that is posing a threat to its embankment, officials said Wednesday. In view of the panic among people in Supaul, Madhepura, Purnea, Saharsa and Araria districts, the state government has alerted engineers associated with the Kosi embankment and asked them to keep a close watch round-the-clock, an official of the water resources department said.

June 11th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The Government teams of Nepal and India are to carry out joint inspection of the repair works at the damaged Koshi embankment on Thursday. Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Minister of Water Resources, Government of Bihar, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood, Ajay Nayak, principal at the Bihar state government's Department of Water Resources, Mahendra B.

May 11th, 2009 PATNA - Hitting out at the Congress, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a key ally of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Monday accused the party of playing politics over last year's devastating floods in the state. 'The centre had given immediate relief of Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion) when the Kosi floods devastated Bihar.

February 24th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Bihar's Central Water Commission (CWC) authorities have asked Nepal's government to provide security after protesters forced work on repairing the flood-damaged Kosi embankment to stop. The CWC Monday sent a letter to the district authorities of Sunsari, the southern area along the India-Nepal border where floods created havoc last monsoon, asking for security after the people displaced by the Kosi river stepped up protests.