As Bihar’s politicians forget water bodies in poll din, citizens issue declaration to remind them of the precious resource

It is 9 am. Lalita Kumari, seated at her usual place in Darbhanga’s fish market, stifles a yawn. In the utensil placed next to her, a Singhi (Heteropneustes fossilis) or Asian stinging catfish is writhing in the water. There is also dead catla or South Asian carp near her, which has come from West Bengal. A vehicle bearing political posters and blaring electoral promises passes by the market just then.

Lalita hears the noise and says sarcastically, “The fish are decreasing. Ponds are dying. But no politician is interested. If there is no water, there will neither be fish nor humans. If there is water, there is life.”

Lalita’s concern is not hers alone. Those whose livelihood is linked to water and who understand its importance, are raising the issue of constantly depleting water sources in Bihar.

Two organisations — Darbhanga-based Talab Bachao Abhiyaan (Save Pond Campaign) and the Indo-Nepal Kamla Maitri Manch — have jointly prepared and released a Jal-Jan (Water & people) Declaration in view of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Darbhanga votes during the fourth phase of polling to be held on May 13.

The Jal-Jan Declaration highlighted that water-related disasters in Bihar are mostly caused by floods and drought.

Embankments built to control floods since independence are now aggravating them in the state. On the other hand, many districts of Bihar are facing the problem of drought, water logging, excess arsenic and fluoride in water.

The document has requested all political parties to include the issue of water conservation and reservoirs in their manifestos and address them.

Key takeaways

The document asks political leaders to ensure conservation of rivers, lakes, forests and wildlife; enact the Water Security Act and water policies; demarcate water bodies to protect them from encroachment and pollution and involve local people in any scheme related to water structures.

The geo-cultural diversity of rivers should be respected, it said. The dying rivers, chaur (wetlands) and lakes of an area should be revived before implementing river-interlinking policies; illegal and indiscriminate mining in rivers should be stopped. Green belts should be formed along rivers.

It further added that water flow should be taken into consideration during the construction of roads and railways. The use of mosquito nets or poison in ponds should be banned. A consortium should be formed to audit seven decade-old dam projects in Bihar. Also, details of public water bodies of all revenue villages should be prepared.

Narayan G Chaudhary, convener of Talab Bachao Abhiyaan, told Down To Earth (DTE):

The Bihar government does not have any concrete policy and system regarding the conservation of water bodies. Encroachment is taking place on ponds right here in Darbhanga, which used to be known for them. Complainants are being murdered. But the administration and leaders remain silent.

North Bihar is drained by more than 200 streams, rivers and water courses that descend from the Nepal Himalayas. The region experiences flood-like conditions every year due to lack of better management. In southern Bihar, rivers start drying up as early as February-March and drought-like conditions take hold of the area around Gaya.

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Water tankers are now seen in North Bihar during the summer. Darbhanga-based local journalist Shashi Mohan told DTE, “We never expected in our lives that a tanker would come to our neighbourhood in order to supply water. But water-surfeit areas like Darbhanga and Madhubani now face water scarcity in summers.”

Vidyanath Jha, who is associated with the Jal-Jan Manifesto Committee, said, “This water crisis has been knocking on our door for 25 years. But we have been blind. Are we waiting for the situation here to become the same as in Bengaluru? I would request the people of Darbhanga to ask every election candidate coming here about their plans for pond and river conservation.”

The magnitude of the water crisis can be gauged from the fact that the Bihar State Fisheries Cooperative Association recently said that there was a possibility that fish and makhana (foxnut) production would take a hit due to 90 per cent of Bihar’s ponds drying up this year.

According to Rishikesh Kashyap, managing director of the Association, “Due to high temperatures and no rain in the month of April, the livelihood of fishers associated with Bihar’s ponds is facing its biggest crisis yet. In such a situation, the government should provide free boring in 72,000 ponds.”

North Bihar, once a pioneer in fish production, now buys fish from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal due to the devastation of rivers, ponds and other water bodies in the state. Fishers are also left unemployed and are, in turn, forced to take up other professions which do not pay as much.

However, the issue of fishers turning to daily wage labour for survival is missing from the elections. Interestingly, the Vikassheel Insaan Party — which represents the Nishad community of fishers and boatmen — is in the fray in this election.

The incumbent National Democratic Alliance is also trying to woo the Nishads, who constitute nine per cent of Bihar’s population. But the electoral campaigns of both sides do not broach upon either the safety of water bodies or the livelihoods of Nishads.

Ajit Kumar Mishra, who distributed the Jal-Jan Declaration to all political parties, told DTE, “We sent the document to all political parties in Patna and Darbhanga, but did not get any special response. The government has started the Jal Jeevan Hariyali programme, which intends to save rivers. But these claims do not appear to be true at ground level.”

The Bihar government has indeed started the scheme on the orders of the Patna High Court. But even it has failed to rid ponds of encroachment. According to figures from the scheme, there are 1,15,022 ponds in Bihar at the moment. Of these, 46,566 are public ponds. Some 9,810 of these public ponds are encroached.

Most of Bihar’s political parties have not issued any independent manifesto this time, with the exception of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. But even this document, titled 24 Janvachan, does not mention the conservation of water bodies.