Kosi river flows steady; govt keeps troops ready

The Centre on Monday said there was no immediate threat of flooding in the Kosi river, even as several rescue personnel remained in the area in case of an emergency.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) is in constant touch with its Nepalese counterpart while National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) under Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth is monitoring the situation closely.

“There appears to be no imminent danger as the flow of the Kosi river is steady and there is no rise in the water level. However, a close vigil is being kept on the situation by CWC and other agencies,” an official statement released on Monday evening said.

The NCMC met on Monday afternoon, for the fifth time since Saturday, to review the situation. A video conference was held with the chief secretary of Bihar and other state government officials.

The Bihar government has already placed a secretary level officer in charge of each of the districts likely to be affected in case of a flood. As many as 70,000 people have been shifted to 128 camps and 2,203 animals have been shifted to 32 camps. 

Nineteen teams of the NDRF and the SDRF have been deployed for rescue operations, while 15 diving teams of the Indian Navy have been kept ready at Visakhapatnam for any operations, besides the deployment of Army and Air Force teams and medical professionals.

The Centre said in a statement that the absence of any significant rainfall and steady release of water from the artificially pounded area on river Bhutakoshi in Nepal has ensured that there was no immediate danger.

The water level at Bahrabise, Pachuwarghat, and Chatara in Nepal is below the danger level. Looking further at water level at Birpur, Basua, Baltara and Kursela in Indian side, it appears that there is no immediate threat of flooding in the Kosi river, the earlier statement said. 

A small assessment team of six people — two each from the CWC and NDRF, one each from the Army and Geological Survey of India — reached Nepal on Saturday night for an initial assessment of the situation.