Remove dams, encroachments to clean Ganga: Ram Bihari

Water, they say, will cause third world war. Like other riparian states, Bihar is also facing problems on water front. Ram Bihari Singh, convener of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Andolan, has been spearheading ‘Pani Janandolan’ (mass movement to save water) in different parts of the state since 1987. Madan Kumar caught up with Singh on the occasion of World Water Day on March 22 to know about the water crisis in Bihar.Excerpts:
What are the main problems Bihar is facing on water front?
The most worrying among the issues is Bihar not getting its due share in interstate rivers like the Sone and the Ganga. We had launched our movement with demand for appropriate share in the Sone waters and modernization of the century-old Sone canals. There is no dearth of water in Bihar or in India. We actually face shortage of safe drinking water. Almost 25% to 30% people in Bihar don’t get safe drinking water.
You have been raising the issue of Bihar’s share in the Ganga waters since long. What are the real issues?
Bihar’s problem vis-à-vis the Ganga waters started after the completion of Farakka barrage (in West Bengal) in 1975. The problem increased manifold after the 1996 Indo-Bangladesh treaty on water sharing at Farakka. As per the treaty, India has to ensure storage of certain quantity of water at Farakka for releasing to Bangladesh in dry season. This led to storage of huge backwaters on upper side of the barrage. Farakka backwaters touch the river banks up to Munger and Begusarai districts in Bihar. The round-the-year storage of backwaters led to deposition of enormous silt in the riverbed which reduced the river depth. When Farakka barrage was completed in 1975, its upper side inner depth was 70-72 feet. Today, it has been reduced to 15 feet due to siltation. Since the Ganga is master trunk river, siltation in its bed gradually slowed the water flow in its main tributaries like Kosi, Gandak, Kareh, Punpun, etc, leading to siltation in their riverbeds, too. The water depth in all these rivers is reduced manifold due to siltation, causing shortage in recharge of groundwater in the Ganga basin. Because of these factors, the incidence and gravity of floods and draughts increased 10 times in the last 20 years in Bihar.
What are the other adverse effects of 1996 treaty?
It was against Bihar interest. Because of siltation, reproduction cycle of dolphins and different fish species has been adversely affected. That reduced the dolphin population.
What are the solutions?
The prime concerns being hotly debated these days are to bring the Ganga back to its original shape with its ‘aviral dhara’ (uninterrupted flow) and how to keep the river clean. There are altogether 138 small and big check-dams and dams on the Ganga tributaries like Bhagirathi and Alaknanda above Devprayag where the two tributaries meet. After Devprayag, 80% of the Ganga waters flow to the canals at Bhimgoda barrage near Hardwar while the remaining 20% get diverted to the dams near Bijnaur and Kanpur in UP. Thus, in Bihar, we are not getting original Gangajal even for religious purposes. Unless we demolish all man-made dams and encroachments from the Ganga, people in Bihar or West Bengal will not get pure Gangajal. The Manmohan Singh government had declared the Ganga a national river. Now, the Centre should bring specific legislation for that. The country should have at least one river in which ships are not allowed.
The central government has recently launched ‘Namami Gange’ scheme to keep the Ganga clean. Your view?
The Ganga is a place of worship. It is not an industry but is being converted that way in the name of different programmes. The Ganga will be saved only when Gomukh glacier at the Himalayas from where it originates is saved. But the Centre is not concerned for saving the Gomukh.