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1 TJBG JANUARY 2013

TTHHEE JJOOUURRNNAALL OOFF BBEENNGGAALL

GGEEOOGGRRAAPPHHEERR

FSSRwww.ssresearcher.com

VOLUME II NO I

JANUARY 2013

RIVER LINKING AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT OF MAHANANDA RIVERBASIN IN WEST BENGALDR. D. K. MANDALASSOCIATE PROFESSORDEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY & APPLIED GEOGRAPHYUNIVERSITY OF NORTH BENGALABSTRACTBeing under the regime of monsoon wind and a peninsular country India is one of the most flood prone nation in the world. As per the Geological Survey of India (GSI), themajor flood prone areas of India cover almost 12.5% area of the country. In all floodplains, one single Department must be designated as the Department to maintain suffici-ent hydraulic data. It is only this data which would enable a demarcation of the chronically flood affected areas and the nature and the change in such areas over time. Inall the blocks affected by floods, the exercise to refine the identification of chronicallyflood affected areas requiring amelioration may be done within the next two years so that a realistic and satisfactory ameliorative programme can be introduced. Crop damage isone of the worst damages caused in floods. An appropriate cropping strategy and othersteps have therefore to be adopted in these areas. The obvious pathways would be to popularise suitable flood escaping or flood tolerant cropping system or intensive crop production with irrigation in the flood free months there. Regarding the damage caused to houses, property and infrastructure, strengthening of house structure, raisingthe level of whole villages or providing ring bunds around villages have been consideredas possible alternatives. Each of these alternatives has positive and negative aspects; yetthe fact remains that something has got to be done to provide protection to the human settlement. The present author would also like to emphasize the importance of pre-disaster preparedness measures since they can change a major disaster into a minor oneand mitigate the suffering of those likely to be affected. There are wide gaps in the hydrological data. No regular information has been maintained about the behaviour of the


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rivers. The river beds of some of the rivers are reported to have gone up due to reduced velocity of the flood and consequent imprisoned siltation within the channel.

KEYWORDS: 1. Causes of floods, 2. Extents of floods, 3. Effects offloods, and 4. River Linking and Mitigation of floods.

INTRODUCTIONThe Mahananda River is a trans-boundary river that flows through the Indian states ofWest Bengal and Bihar, and Bangladesh. Right bank tributary Mechi forms part ofNepal's eastern boundary with West Bengal and the Kankai crosses out of Nepal. TheMahananda originates in the Himalayas: Mahaldiram Hill near Chimli, east of Kurseong in Darjeeling district at an elevation of 2,100m. It flows through Mahananda WildlifeSanctuary and descends to the plains near Siliguri. It touches Jalpaiguri district also.

It enters Bangladesh near Tentulia in Panchagarh District, flows for 3 km after Tentulia and returns to India. After flowing through Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Kishanganj district in Bihar, it enters Malda district in West Bengal. The Mahanandadivides the district into two regions — the eastern region, consisting mainly of old alluvial and relatively infertile soil is commonly known as Barind, and the westernregion, which is further subdivided by the river Kalindri into two areas, the northern areais known as "Tal." It is low lying and vulnerable to inundation during rainy season; thesouthern area consists of very fertile land and is thickly populated, being commonlyknown as "Diara". It joins the Ganges at Godagiri in Nawabganj district in Bangladesh.

The total length of the Mahananda is 360 km, out of which 324 km are in India and 36 km are in Bangladesh. The total drainage area of the Mahananda is 20,600 sq. km out ofwhich 11,530 sq. km are in India.

The main tributaries of the Mahananda are Balason, Mechi, Ratwa, and Kankai. In the Siliguri area it has three tributaries called the Trinai, Ranochondi and the pair of Chokorand Dauk taken as a single tributary.

The Kosi, which flows through the northeastern Bihar and joins the Ganges at a pointmuch higher up than Rajmahal, originally ran eastward and fell into the Brahmaputra.The channel of the Kosi, therefore, must have been steadily shifting toward the west, right across the whole breadth of North Bengal. There was a time when the Kosi and theMahananda joined the Karatoya and formed a sort of ethnic boundary between peopleliving south of it and the Kochs and Kiratas living north of the river.

CAUSES OF FLOODS BY MAHANANDA RIVERThe topography of West Bengal is varied from north to south. In the north, the districts lie in the hilly region of the Himalayas. The Terai region lies in the foothills of theHimalayan range. The Ganga plain is formed by the river Ganga and her distributaries.The Sunderban is the delta region formed at the confluence of Ganga.


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There are a number of rivers that flow through the mountainous region of West Bengal. Some of the rivers in this region are Teesta, Torsha, Jaldhaka, Raidak and Sankosh. Further south, Mahananda river flows through the central region. The Hoogly River is an important distributary of Ganga that flows mainly through Kolkata. The main river ofWest Bengal Ganga is fed by its numerous tributaries and ultimately it forms the estuarybefore merging with Bay of Bengal at Sagar Island.

Mahananda is a home for a large number of colourful feathered animals. The listincludes several species of babblers, wagtails, bee eaters, swallows, sun birds, rollers,robins, fly catchers, thrush, drongo, kites, eagles, hornbills, orioles, peacock, fouls,egrets, kingfishers, wood pickers and much more.

To help the growth of herbivorous animals several glades have been crated at convenient spots inside the sanctuary. These glades have artificial saltlicks where the animals are seen coming to taste the salt in the early morning and evening. The sanctuaryhas well laid forest roads, which covers about 50 km. Apart from forest roads two national high ways (NH 51 and NH 31) cut through the sanctuary. A drive or trek through the forest roads opens up places of magnificent beauty and gives a glimpse of excellent natural and manmade forests. The watchers built beside Gulma River and at Laltong aresome ideal places to observe the grazing animals specially elephant, gaur and deer. Thegateway to the sanctuary is Sukna on the Siliguri-Darjeeling highway. There are twoforest rest houses at Sukna and one at Latpanchar in the northern part on the Sanctuary.

In fact, the entire Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary area is free from all sorts of natural hazards. Physiographically, this region is a part of piedmont zone which has sufficient ground slope to drain out excess rain water very swiftly. The geolithological composition is also in favour of rapid percolation of rain water and finally at its saturation the sub-surface flow is also taking place particularly in the late monsoon period and therebyreducing the possibility of flood.


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Data source: www.mapsofindia.com/top-ten/geography/india-flood.html

Table 2 Average Annual Flood Damage (1953 - 1999).

StateArea liable to floods(million Ha.)

Total Damage Rs.13,400 million

Area Affected 8.11 million hectare

Crop Area Affected 3.57 million hectare

Human Lives Lost 1579 Nos.

Cattle Lost 95,000 Nos.

Source: www.mapsofindia.com/top-ten/geography/india-flood.html

RIVER LINKING IN RELATION TO THE RIVER MAHANANDAThe cost of implementation of inter-basin transfer proposal prepared by the NWDA, at 2002 price level, is roughly Rs. 5,60,000 crore for both Himalayan and Peninsularcomponents. This includes the cost of power component 1,35,000 crore. The remaining cost of Rs. 4,25,000 crore would be for irrigation and water supply.

Out of the 30 link canals 16 will be in Peninsular Component and 14 in Himalayan Component. Of the Himalayan component, 6 river-link canals are directly related to Bihar. They are Kosi-Mechi, Kosi-Ghaghara, Chunar-Sone Barrage, Sone Dam- Southern tributaries of Ganga and the Braahmaputra-Ganga (MSTG) Link Canal. The sixth

7.3364.26

3.73.263.15

2.652.35

1.41.391.39

0.870.450.330.260.230.230.080.080.050.02

Uttar Pradesh

Punjab

Assam

Haryana

Andhra Pradesh

Kerala

Tripura

Himachal Pradesh

Jammu & Kashmir

Delhi

STATE-WISE FLOOD PRONE AREA

Area liable to floods (million Ha.)


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Gandak-Ganga link canal, is partly related of Bihar. Although the Gandak-Ganga link canal will not pass through Bihar, it will make a greater impact on the States floodsituation and hydrology.

As part of the project, a Multi-Purpose High Dam across river Kosi will be constructed near village, Barahkshetra in Nepal. The total storage capacity of the proposed dam is 9370 million cubic meters (MCM) while is will generate 3000 MW of hydro-electricity.

Besides the High Dam, a barrage across Kosi river will also be constructed near villageChatra 10-12 km below the Dam, to transfer water to Mechi river through the Kosi-Mechi link canal. Two more dams will be constructed across Gandak and Sone rivers aspart of the project. While the Dam across Gandak will be constructed in Nepal, the SoneDam will be near Kadwan village in Garhwa district of Jharkhand.

The National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has proposed 30 major river linkcanals throughout the country to transfer water from surplus basin to water deficit basin.

The interlinking project comprises of two components1. Peninsular component and 2. Himalayan component

The names of different link canals under the above the two components are being givenbelow:PENINSULAR LINKS

1. Mahanadi (Manibhada), Godavari Dowlaiswarm 2. Godavari (Inpampali) Krishna (Nagarjuna Sagar)3. Godavari (Inchampali low dam-Krishna Nagarjuna sagar tail pond)4. Godavari (Polavaram) Krishna-Vijaywara5. Krishna-(Almati) Pehner 6. Krishna (Srisailam) Penner 7. Krishna Nagarjuna sagar (Pennar Somasaila) 8. Bensar (Somasaila) Cauveri Grand Ahicut 9. Cauveri (Katalai) Vaigai-Gundar 10. Ken-Berwa11. Parwati-Lalisingoh-Chambal 12. Par- Tapi-Narmada13. Damanganga-Pinjal 14. Bedti-Bharda15. Netrabati-Hemavati16. Pamba-Achankoyil- Vaipar

HIMALAYAN LINKS1. Kosi-Mechi 2. Kosi-Ghaghara3. Gandak-Ganga4. Ghaghara-Jamuna


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5. Sharda-Jamuna 6. Jamuna-Rajasthan 7. Rajasthan-Sabarmati8. Chunar-Sone-Barrage9. Sone Dam-Souther tributaries of Ganga10. Brahmputra-Ganga(MSTG)11. Brahmputra-Ganga (GTF) (ALT), (The River Mahananda is part of this scheme)12. Farakka-Sundarbans 13. Ganga-Damodar-Subernrekha14. Subernarekha-Mahanadi

LINK CANALS DIRECTLY RELATED TO BIHAR

1. KOSI-MECHI LINK CANALThe 112.55 km. long canal will mainly pass through the "Terai" area in Nepal. It willstart from the left side of Chatra barrage and fall into Mechi river after crossing over three small rivers Bakra, Ratuwa and Kankai through syphon aqueduct. The canal's receiving capacity will be 1407.80 cumec and discharge rate will be 97.64 cumec. Thecanal would provide irrigational facility to 4.74 lakh hectares of land. Out of this, 1.75 lakh hectares shall be irrigated in Nepal and 2.99 lakh hectares in Bihar. Besides this, provision of 24 MCM water has been made for domestic and industrial requirements ofthe towns falling in between. As proposed, it would divert 883 MCM water at the rate of28 cumec to Mechi river for increasing the water in Mahananda river. The canal would also provide navigational facility from Chatra to Ganga via Mechi and Mahananda rivers.

2. KOSI-GHAGHARA LINK CANALThe 428.76 km long canal, which will start from the right side of the Chatra barrage, willfall in Gaura river, a tributary of Chaghara river, in Uttar Pradesh after crossing overTiljuga, Khanro, Bagmati and Lalbakkeya rivers in Nepal and Gandak river in Bihar. Thecanal's receiving capacity will be 1021 cumecs while it will discharge 67 cumec in Gaurariver. The total benefited area through this link canals is 10.58 lakh hectares. Out of this, 1.74 lakh hectare area shall be of Udaipur, Saptari, Mahoitari, Sarlahi and Bara districtsin Nepal and 8.17 lakh hectare and 0.67 lakh hectare area of North Bihar and UttarPradesh, respectively. The canal would also provide 48 MCM water for domestic and industrial requirements of the towns on its way.

3. SONE DAM-SOUTHERN TRIBUTARIES OF GANGA LINK CANALThe 339 km long canal will begin from the right side of the proposed dam across Soneriver near Kadwan in Jharkhand. The canal would fall into Badua river after crossing over Morhar, Lilajan, Dharmajayi, Sakri and Kiul rivers. Two hydel projects of 3.5 MW


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and 1.5 MW capacities would be finalised near the junction of Sakri River. The total benefited area through this canal will be 3.07 lakh hectares in the districts of Patna,Nalanda, Gaya, Jehanabad, Munger, Bhagalpur, Nawada, Jamui and Aurangabad of Bihar and Palamu district of Jharkhand.

4. CHUNAR-SONE BARRAGE LINK CANALThe 149.10 km long canal will start from the right side of Ganga river near Chunar Tehsilof Mirzapur district in UP. It will fall into Sone river near Indrapuri barrage in Rohtas district. There would be a lift of 38.8 m, 16.10 m and 4.4 m at three different places on route. In addition to taking over substantial command areas of Western Sone High Level and low level canals, this link canal will provide irrigation in 66,793 hectares of new areain Mirzapur, Varanasi and Gazipur districts of UP and Bhabhua, Rohtas, Buxar andBhojpur districts of Bihar.

5. BRAHMAPUTRA - GANGA (MANAS- SANKOSH- TEESTA- GANGA LINK CANALIt envisages Construction of 457 km long link canal and a dam on river Manas and a dam and a barrage on river Sankosh in Bhutan. There would be 7 numbers of falls on thecanal, out of which 4 nos. of falls are located in Bihar. A total hydro power to the tune of718 MW will be generated on these falls, out of which 393 MW will be generated on fallslocated in Bihar. The link canal will provide irrigation benefits to an area of 6.53 lack ha.out of which 2.64 lack ha. are in Bihar.

6. GANDAK-GANGA CANALThe 639 km long canal, which would start from the right side of the proposed dam acrossGandak river in Nepal, will fall in Ganga river near Mustafabad in Rai Bareli district ofUttar Pradesh. It will run through Nepal and various districts of Uttar Pradesh. Thoughthis canal would not cross through Bihar it would make a big impact on the State bytaming the flood waters of Gandak. There will be no irrigational facility in Bihar from this canal.

B. STATE PERSPECTIVEFifteen Intra linking schemes were identified for preparing DPR in different stages. InFirst Phase, preparation of DPR of following 6 intra linking schemes was allotted todifferent consultants upon their expression of interest.Construction of 2nd barrage on river Gandak near Areraj and stabilising water availabilityin Gandak Canal System by transferring water from Burhi Gandak and Baya Rivers.Construction of barrage at Dheng on River Bagmati.Construction of barrages on River Sakri (at Baksoti) and Nata to link both the rivers.Link between Dhanrjay and Fulwaria reservoirs.Drainage and water management in Mokama Tal.


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Construction of 2nd barrage near Alwar on River Sone.In Second Phase, preparation of DPR of following 6 schemes was allotted to National Water Development Agency (NWDA):Transfer of water from Kosi basin to Mahananda basin through Kosi-Mechi Link Canal.Transferring Ganga water to South Bihar through Pump Canal Scheme near Barh.

FLOOD SECTORKohra – Chandrawat Link.Bagmati – Burhi Gandak Link.Burhi Gandak – None – Baya – Ganga Link.Kosi – Bagmati – Ganga Link.In Third Phase, preparation of DPR of following 3 schemes was allotted to NWDA. PreFeasibility Report (PPR), of these schemes was prepared by Land and WaterManagement Institute (LAWMI).KOSI – ADHWARA – BAGMATI LINKTransferring water to South Bihar through pump canal scheme at Buxar.Development of Badua – Chandan basin.Based on pre feasibility reports of above 15 schemes, following 8 schemes have been identified as intra state linking scheme, while remaining 7 are conventional irrigation schemes.Transferring Ganga water to South Bihar through Pump Canal Scheme near Barh. Construction of barrages on river Sakri (at Baksoti) and Nata to link both the rivers.Link between Dhanrjay and Fulwaria reservoirs.KOHRA – CHANDRAWAT LINKBagmati (Belwadhar) – Burhi Gandak Link.Burhi Gandak – None – Baya – Ganga Link.Kosi – Bagmati – Ganga Link.Kosi – Adhwara – Bagmati Link.

STATUS REPORT OF PREPARATION OF DPR

Sl.No.

Name ofScheme

Total Length ofChannel orLink

ConsultantProject Cost(in crore)

North orSouthBihar

PurposeBenefitedDistricts

Type ofScheme

Status as on 30th

September2012

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101 Kohra-

Chandravat Link80 cumec wateris to betransferred(Burhi gandak -Gandak) Line canal - 17

26 Km National Water Development Agency(NWDA)

168.86 NORTH Flood Mitigation West andEast Champaran

Inter linking ofrivers

DPR to beready byDecember 2012 underPatnaDivision.


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KmLalbegi river - 9 Km

2 Bagmati-Burhi Gandak throughBelwadhar(500 Cumecwater is to betransferred )Lined canal - 1 KmBelwadhar - 59Km


125.96 NORTH Flood Mitigation Sheohar,Sitamarhi andMuzaffarpur


DPR to beready byDecember 2013 underLucknowDivision.

3 Burhi Gandak-None-Baya-Ganga Link(492 Cumecwater is to betransferred )CCA- 250000HaLined canal-(23+3)=26 KmNone River - 23 KmBaya River - 22 Km


3946 NORTH Flood Mitigation Samastipur,Begusarai and Khagaria


PPR submitted toCWC. DPRto be readybyDecember 2012. (Thisscheme is included forfinancial assistanceby ThirteenthFinanceCommission) underPatnaDivision.

4 Kosi-GangaLink(Bagmati)Linedcanal-1 KmMushradhar -3.5 KmKasraiya River- 4.5 Km


88.93 NORTH Flood Mitigation Khagaria andBhagalpur


DPR to beready byDecember 2012 underPatnaDivision.

5 Transfer of Kosi Basin Water toMahanandaBasin throughKosi-Mechi LinkCanal.Length ofcanal-120.15km.CCA - 2,43,000Ha

120.15 Km National Water Development Agency(NWDA)

4441.82 NORTH Irrigation Supaul,Saharsa,Araria,Kishanganj and Purnea


DPR to beready byDecember 2012 underLucknowDivision.

6 Development ofBagmatiIrrigation &

National Water Development

NORTH Irrigation andFlood Mitigation

East Champaran,Muzaffarpur,


DetailedProposal for


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DrainageProject-Phase-II (Barrage nearKataunjha inMuzaffarpur district ) andAdhwaraMultipurposedProject withKosi-Adhwara-Bagmati Link

Agency(NWDA)

Samstipur,Begusarai,Khagaria, Darbhanga,Madhubaniand Sitamarhi

preparationof DetailedProject Reportsubmitted toNWDA inDecember2011.

7 Baksoti BarrageScheme on river Sakri andconversion ofNata Weir to aBarrage on river Nata in Nawadadistrict withsuitable linkfrom Sakri riverto Nata river from Baksotibarrage site.Paura WeirCCA-31370 HaNata-Kaurihari CCA- 17438 HaBaksoti barrageCCA- 20000 Ha

M/SIntegratedHydroDevelopment Forum, Patna.

540 SOUTH Irrigation Nawadah,Nalanda andSheikhpura


PPR clearedwith certainobservationby CWC.DPR isunder process ofmodification as per CWC observation.

8 DhanarjayReservoir Scheme and linkto Phulwaria Reservoir Scheme.Link Canal 6.55KmSubmergence -490Ha (232Bh,258JH)Forest - 255Ha(133 Bh,102JH)

6.55 Km M/s AlgorithmConsultancyServices Pvt.Ltd., Patna.

272.9 SOUTH Energy Nawada andGaya


PPR submitted toCWC for clearance.Geo-Surveyworkstopped dueto localhindrance.Department has requested tothe Districtadministration forsolving thelocal hindrance.Draft DPRsubmittedbyConsultant and send toREC for



evaluation.SOURCE: WWW.WRD.BIH.NIC.IN/INTRALINKING.HTM

MEASURES ADOPTED FOR THE RIVER MAHANANDA

The SJDA has been taking various measures to ensure planned development of the areas within its jurisdiction in a comprehensive manner and to create infrastructure facilities tosustain the growth and economic development of the region. Besides taking up of various physical and social infrastructure projects, it is also taking up projects under PublicPrivate Partnership mode. During the year 2011, it has completed a number of projectsthat include development of drain and road at PWD More, Bridge over Jorapani, construction of road from Sarium-Talma to Khunier More, Road-over-Bridge atMahabirsthan, Road-over-Bridge Arm-SF Road etc. It has also taken up projects likeSiliguri Fire Station at Matigara, development of 4 Hats at Jalpaiguri and Siliguri,Approach Road to bridge over Karola at Rear Side of Sports Complex and the works arein progress. The SJDA is also implementing the works under Mahananda Action Plan. It has already taken up protection works along the left bank of Mahananda river. Theriverfront development works and other works like lying of trans-sewer pertaining to abatement of pollution in the river Mahananda are being taken up. Further Scheme forriverfront development along the Mahananda river has been formulated.

CAUSES AND EXTENTS OF FLOOD IN MAHANANDA 2012 Nearly 40,000 people were affected due to incessant rains triggering a flood-like situationin the north Bengal region with Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri being the worst hit, officials said, even as the water levels of major rivers Mahananda and Teesta continue to rise. A flood-like situation prevailed in several areas of Siliguri in Darjeeling district and Teraiand Dooars area of Jalpaiguri district due to heavy rainfall. Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri arethe two districts which are worst affected due to this flood-like situation. The water levelof Mahananda River, which flows along Siliguri town, was crossed the danger level and it continues to rise in July 15, 2012. The water level of Teesta River, which flows through Jalpaiguri district, was also rising with every passing day (July 15, 2012 onward). TheMatigara block in Siliguri area and Waste Dhontola area in Jalpaiguri district were worstaffected on July 16, 2012.

The district administration called in the army on July 19, 2012 to repair a Mahanandaembankment breach that led to flooding in localities a kilometre away, trapping 25,000 residents on Siliguri’s outskirts.

Army personnel from Sukna reached the spot at Milan More on July 19, 2012 and wereseen gathering sandbags to guard the neighbouring localities against the river’s fury. Around 25,000 residents are marooned in the localities near the broken embankment. Within the civic area of Siliguri, nearly half of the 47 wards were under water on July 19,2012.



By late evening on July 19, 2012, all 25,000 people had moved to dry areas such as theChampasari Main Road or to flood shelters set up in schools.

Indian Army’s help to repair the portion (of the embankment) was sought by the Siliguri Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Baibhav Srivastav on July 19, 2012. Residents, however, complained that the flood control authorities had been slow to repair the embankment that had developed cracks on the intervening night of July 15 and 16, 2012.The North Bengal Flood Control Commission officials visited Milan More only onmorning of July 19, 2012 to plug the gap. Temporary repair work was carried out but theembankment did not hold out in the 171mm rain that Siliguri got between night (July 17, 2012) and morning (July 18, 2012).

On July 17, 2012 the water had started receding but no repairs were done. On July 17 and 18, 2012 it hardly rained. But the state irrigation department was sluggish inrepairing the embankment, which is why their homes were under water even on July 19, 2012.

The marooned residents were rescued by a 35-member team of the Civil DefenceDepartment. The water of the river went as far as Devidanga bazaar, an area at least akilometre away from the point at Milan More where the embankment gave way. Waterentered Babubhasa, Madhya Palash, Karaibari, Tindharia, Kalabari, Machua, Narmadabagan and parts of ward 46 of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

The flooding on July 17, 2012 also resulted in the death of a youth and a two-year-old boy, the first two cases of monsoon casualties in the town. A youth was standing on theMahananda bank, Arghyadipa Paul, 24, did not realise that a chunk of mud under his feethad fallen into the river and ultimately he was swept away. In ward 46, in the Dhaknikataarea, a two-year-old boy was swept away by rain water when he came out of his hut. Thebodies have been found later on during the rescue operation. The small boy wasidentified as Ankush Oraon.

The Balasan flooded several areas such as Patiramjote and Balasan Colony. Accordingto officials, over 500 families had to shift to drier places on July 18, 2012. In Tindharia, a7m stretch of the boundary wall of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway workshop collapsed because of heavy rain. Along with the boundary wall, the soil beneath the tracks was also washed away.

The 97 year old workshop was at risk since September last year (2011) when 150m ofNH55 at Tindharia caved in.

Following are the photographic evidences of flood in Mahananda during July 2012.



Plate 1 Flood water entering into the agricultural field in Champasari.

Plate 2 Local people are on roof-topduring flood in Gulma area.

Plate 3 Stagnation of flood water in low lying areas in Champasari.

Plate 4 A thick pile of flood water bornesediments deposited in settlement area.

Plate 5 A total isolation of a primaryschool near Milan More.

Plate 6 Both the tea gardens andagricultural land are affectedby flood.



Plate 7 A village community centreaffected by flood in HalerMatha area.

Plate 8 An abandoned house due toinundation by flood water inChampasari.

CONCLUSIONIn conclusion it may be said that the breaching up of the earthen embankment along anybank of a river is nothing new. World-wide, the jacketing of any natural channel by the earthen material has resulted into an adverse effect. Because of imprisoned siltation within the channel for long time, there is a substantial loss of cross sectional area of thechannel which is required to accommodate excess monsoon rain water. Because of the rise of thalweg level, the hydraulic pressure has also increased. Regarding the RiverLinking, the lower part of the River Mahananda particularly in the District Malda is to bebenefitted as it will increase the flow after receiving water through the link canal from theRiver Kosi. Therefore, the middle as well as the piedmont zone area needs to be treated indifferent way. The natural processes of land building is to be allowed to continue withoutcreating any sort of man-made disturbances particularly by jacketing the channel byheaping up earthen material all along the both side of the channel. Therefore, this combined effect is the ultimate cause of flood in Mahananda.

REFERENCES

1. Kishanganj district. Kishanganj district administration.kishanganj.bih.nic.in/river.htm.

2. MahanandaRiver.Britannica.www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/357914/Mahananda-River.

3. Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Nature beyond. www.himalayan-adventure.com/jungle/mahananda.htm.

4. Majumdar, R.C., History of Ancient Bengal, first published 1971, reprint 2005, p. 4, Tulshi Prakashani, Kolkata, ISBN 81-89118-01-3.

5. Malda district. Malda district administration. http://malda.gov.in/.



6. Rivers in Siliguri. Mahananda River. www.siligurionline.com/info/rivers.htm."Rivers". Darjeeling News.Net. darjeelingnews.net/rivers.html.

7. Sharad K. Jain, Pushpendra K. Agarwal, Vijay P. Singh. Hydrology and WaterResources of India. books.google.co.in/books.

8. Uttar Dinajpur district. Uttar Dinajpur district administration.uttardinajpur.gov.in/.

9. www.aajkikhabar.com/en/News/Top%20News/Flood-like-situation-affects-40-000-in-north-Bengal/698404.html

10. www.mapsofindia.com/top-ten/geography/india-flood.html11. www.mapsofindia.com/west-bengal/geography/biodiversity.html12. www.wburbandev.gov.in/html/bs89_sjda.html

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