Water of Sorrow
As it is known as river of sorrow, Kosi river once again proved that to Indian state of Bihar and Nepal (Kosi Disaster: Nature's Wrath or Height of Negligence?). The flood has devastated large areas of northern Bihar and Nepal's Sunsari district. Along with destruction of property, more than two million people in Bihar and about 100,000 in Nepal have already been displaced. Although the total value of devastation of Kosi flood is yet to be calculated, it seems that the economic cost of devastation will be in billions of dollars. The time has come to think about how to tame this river.
Ram Chandra Jha
Via email
Stop Blame Game
Nepal and India has already wasted a lot of time in blame game. The time has come for government of both the countries to take concrete decision to prevent devastating floods in future. As a big country, India has to take the initiative. Taming of the river like Kosi will give benefit to India in terms of irrigation, flood control and power. If India open-heartedly agrees to share this rightful benefit with Nepal, nothing will be impossible. However, India's officialdom is yet to agree on this. Had India shown its big heart, people living in both the countries would not have to face this kind of grave situation? I hope this flood will open our eyes to do something better for people living in both the countries.
Rukmani Shrestha
Via Email
Tireless Effort
Despite retirement from government service, water resources expert Dr. Ananda Bahadur Thapa continued to write on the lurking threat of Kosi flood. Unfortunately, nobody listened to him. So far as Nepalese officials and politicians are concerned, they did not find much time to concentrate on this issue as they spent most of their time thinking about prolonged political instability. It was shocking to know how Indian officials undermined the warning given by Dr. Thapa. Unlike other water resource experts, Dr. Thapa's views are purely technical and he has never tried to mix his technical expertise with politics. Dr. Thapa has been writing articles predicting such disaster since a long time. This is the reason one can say Kosi disaster was not merely nature's wrath but was borne out of negligence.
Lila Rai
Dharan via E-mail
Common Problem
People living in both the sides of border have to face common problems. If there is devastation in one country, the other will also have to face it. Kosi flood first devastated the life and property in Nepal but it went on to ravage the land and people on the other side also. The damage done in India was much higher than what Nepalese had to bear. It shows that we live together and sink together. If there is a flood in Nepal, it will affect India. If there is a rise of extremism and violence in Nepal, it will automatically spill over to India. Kosi's recent flood teaches us a lesson about the importance of each other.
Dhiraj Yadav
Janakpurdham via email
No Need For Uproar
CPN-Maoist leader and prime minister Prachanda's recent visit to China has created uproar in Nepal and India. I don't think there is anything to be panicky on Prachanda's visit to China as prime minister himself has made it clear that the visit was "apolitical."In fact, prime minister Prachanda was not the first person to visit China. All his left leaning predecessors started their journey from visiting third country. Tanka Prasad Acharya paid his first official visit to China. Similarly, the first elected communist prime minister Man Mohan Singh paid visit to Denmark. If they did it, what is wrong for Prachanda, who started all his political career from safe sanctuary and training camps in India? If Prachanda, who just entered to politics retaining his terror outfit, interact, was given red carpet welcome in New Delhi in Hindustan Times Leadership Summit two years ago, there is no reason for creating brouhaha now.
Sudan Kafle
Paris Via email
