The construction of 'Pilot Channel', which was stopped in Koshi River, has resumed. India is going to build a 'pilot channel' at Tilathi Koiladi rural municipality-5 Tikulian of Saptari to push the natural flow of the river towards the western embankment.
Last Wednesday, after complaints started coming to the district administration office Saptari saying that due to the 'pilot channel', local residents living in the western region would be at risk of flooding, a team including chief district officer Bhola Dahal arrived and stopped the construction work.
Even though the construction work was stopped for the purpose of holding further discussions with technicians from Nepal-India and proceeding according to the findings, the discussion could not be held at the local level. The staff of the Birpur office under the water treatment department of the Bihar government came to the construction site on Thursday and after getting information from the liaison officer of the Koshi Plan Biratnagar liaison office, the construction work resumed on Friday.
They came back after the high-level committee meeting of Koshi Yojana, which had already been held in Birpur, India, decided to do the work.
"We looked at the written decisions, agreements and other documents made by the high-level committee of the Koshi project, and it seems that they are working accordingly," said Prazia Dahal, "According to the agreement, soil removal is being done to protect the western embankment."
'Discussion and coordination should also be at the local level, why are sand and soil being piled towards the river now?' He added, 'if they are trying to protect the embankment, shouldn't they be piling sand and soil towards the embankment?' "I am not allowed to speak in the media", he said.
According to Krishna Yadav, Ward President of Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality-14, when the 'pilot channel' to be dug from the middle of the river is dug from the western bank, the embankment will collapse and the settlements like Tikuliyan, Banarjhula, Dalba, Rampura will be at high risk of flooding.
