In troubled waters

When the area was flooded again in 1987,the people here kept themselves afloat,clinging to roads.

Devmistri Dharkahr,who makes a living by weaving bamboo mats and baskets,says,I had come to Maheshi,17 km from Saharsa,in the 1980s from Purnea. But I was driven out by influential people after the flood. Ever since I have been staying here. We are forced to drink polluted river water. His wife shows their one-room thatched house and says,We dont exist for the political parties.

Jagdish Mukhiya has a similar story. Forced to live on the banks of Harsankhini Dhar,he has taken up fishing for a living. Bablu Mukhiya,his neighbour,is not expecting any rehabilitation as the recent flood has not affected the area. Suttan Dharkar is apprehensive that the state Government might ask them to vacate the place.

The Saharsa district administration has not yet received any rehabilitation proposal for Harsankhini Dhar residents and the administration is too busy with recent flood rehabilitation programmes to spare a thought for those affected by the 1984 incident.

Bhuj-like bamboo houses ideal for flood-hit Bihar

A bamboo house with an attic. This idyllic-sounding structure could be just what the flood-hit people of north Bihar need as the area falls under a sensitive seismic zone.

Though Bihar has not given a nod to any private group to build the proposed 3.5 lakh houses in the flood-hit districts of Saharsa,Madhepura,Supaul,Araria and Purnea,it has invited Bhuj-based NGO Hunnarshaala Foundation and Ahmedabads Centre for Environment Planning and Technology CEPT University to share their knowledge.

Hunnarshaala Foundation and the CEPT team will devote a year to sharing their know-how with locals. The team has sent four technical members to the villages of Saharsa,Madhepura and Supaul to teach villagers how to raise bamboo homes,its cost-effectiveness and durability. The team has designed houses in the villages of earthquake-hit Bhuj,Tsunami-ravaged Cuddalore and also in J-K. The team has presented two models of bamboo houses to the Saharsa district administration.

The houses are built on a raised plinth with a cemented band. Chemically treated termite-resistant bamboo is used for the structure. Professor Sankalp of the CEPT University said,We use PVC pipe to avoid bamboo pillars contact with soil. A tin-shade or thatched roof is used so that theres less burden on the structure. A 5-7- feet-high attic can be a help for people even if the water level reaches six-eight feet. The dry bamboo is unaffected by stagnant water.