Beavers, Bhakra & Bihar – Nitish Kumar the Looter

Beavers, Bhakra & Bihar – Nitish Kumar the Looter



[All it required to keep 3500 kilometers of embankments in Bihar was Rs.1000 crores or even less but Nitish Kumar had Rs.35,000 crores under his control in four budgets but he failed to maintain 15-20 kilometers left bank of Kosi and made a fool of Manmohan Singh by telling him his predecessor didn’t maintain the said embankment properly in 2005 even as floods passed through it in 2007, Nitish took over as CM in November2005 so this was his third flood. In January 2008 he demanded Rs.17,059 crores from GOI the figure reported today is 25,000 crores. Nitish has appointed an 80 year Nilendu Sanyal to report on the matter when this calamity calls for PROBE by a retired Chief Justice of India to hush up the bunglings. Most of this money will not be required if Bihar could maintain it embankments honestly until storage dams in Nepal are ready.]



Dear Dr. D.K. Mishra,

I am surprised you have not been critical of the rampant loot and corruption going on in Bihar . I have no idea about the rural experience you have but I have spent at least 4-5 years in villages cumulatively.



I have not seen beavers in Punjab who build dams and bridges except in films or books or Zoo but have observed rats within 24 hours of flooding of their burrows build a new one that is six inches above the flood level. Termites too repair their damaged mound within hours and other insects also respond to disasters quickly. In Bihar government pockets money meant for flood protection and people wait for aid to feed them.



In Punjab due to criminal negligence of BBMB and corrupt irrigation department floods breached the embankments. When Army Engineers and State government expressed their inability to plug the breach farmers organized themselves and plugged the breach. No such initiative was visible anywhere in Bihar .



All insects and animals store food plan to avoid floods. Punjab built three big dams to store water to produce electricity, provide irrigation and for flood protection.



But am shocked Bihar doesn’t want to build dams and not even embankments as per your advice. Obviously Dams are to be built in Nepal but money is made in Bihar why invest it in Nepal .



Cost of Maintaining Embankments Rs.1000 crores >>>

>>>> Money With Nitish Rs. 35,057 crores up to March2009 >>>

>>>> Rs.17,059 crores Proposal for Special Assistance >>>

>>>> Revised to Rs.25,000 Crores



Rs. 13,800 crores + Rs.10475 crores + Rs.8549 crores (2006-2009) + Rs.2233 crores (50% of 2005-6)



But Nitish Kumar thinks floods are opportunities to make money. Clearly construction of new embankments and raising embankments in the budget is Rs.1543 crores for 2056 kilometer length. In that people generally believe 60% is CORRUPTION so actual expenditure required was Rs.617 crores. Therefore actual cost of maintenance of all 3500 kilometer embankments in Bihar is just around Rs.1000 crores or even less. But he also proposed Rs.17,059 crores Bihar Floods – 2007 Proposals for Special Plan Assistance. Text and links provided in the end.



http://planning. bih.nic.in/ Ppts/Microsoft% 20PowerPoint% 20-%20Presentati on_30%20Jan. pdf

“Construction of 1530 kms of new embankment and raising of 513 kms. At Rs. 1543.00 crores approved.” – in 2008-09 budget. Considerable investment was planned and spent or WASTED & LOOTED. Combined with expenditure of nearly Rs.400 crores in February and March2008 there was sufficient money to keep out floods. Current year’s budget is Rs.13800 including central assistance of Rs.4487 crores.



You will not believe your eyes to discover Nitish Kumar spent Rs.3939 crores in just March2008 which is much more than 12 months expenditure under RJD government for 2004-5 of Rs.3196 crores out of annual expenditure of Rs.10475 crores for 2007-08. Expenditure in 2006-07 too was substantial at Rs.8549 crores.



Can you imagine expenditure on flood control that comes under Water Resources head was ZERO for April and May 2007 and Rs.101 crores in June 2007 but well after the end of monsoon up to October2007 expenditure was Rs.297 crores that increased to Rs.370 crores by January expenditure increased by Rs.108 crores to Rs.478 crores and finally annual expenditure shot up to Rs.782 crores.



http://planning. bih.nic.in/ Ppts/Microsoft% 20PowerPoint% 20-%20Deputy% 20CM%20Presentat ion(16-04- 08).pdf

http://planning. bih.nic.in/ Archive/Historic al-Data.pdf



How can a state spend over 40% of the planned annual budget in just one month? He proudly claimed growth pf 92% in March expenditure over previous year.



Up to February 2008 there was no expenditure on Disaster Management when there were severe floods in 2007 but in March expenditure was Rs.434 crores. Expenditure on energy was Rs.138 crores that went up to Rs.271 crores for the year. Health expenditure was just Rs.66 crores February2008 that went up to Rs.257 crores for the year.



Expenditure on roads was Rs.2225 crores.



Rs. 17059 Crores Bihar Floods – 2007 Proposals for Special Plan Assistance



http://planning. bih.nic.in/ Documents/ scan_Flood( Executive% 20summary) .pdf



The summary of the financial proposals with regard to the above are as follows



l) Desilting of Rivers-Rs 5098.00 Crores



2) Scheme for flood moderation through inter-linking of adjacent rivers with provisions of cuts. - Rs. 3580.39 crores.



3) Recovery and reconstruction of roads



a) Highways and MDRs - Rs. 1843.00 crores.

b) Rural roads - Rs 2054.52 crores.



4) House construction- Rs. 4200.00 crores.



5) Construction of godowns in all the flood prone district and blocks for food security - Rs.155.71crores.



6) Proposal for creation of Fodder Banks- Rs 128.00 crores.



The total comes to Rs. 17059.62 crore only. The details of the proposals are enclosed as Annexures



Ravinder Singh

Progressindia008@ yahoo.com

September17, 2008