Development works on Right Offlocks Barrage of Gandak river resumes

With the approval of Nepal government, the development work at Right Offlocks Barrage on Gandak river has started in Bihar's Bagaha city.

Western Champaran (Bihar): The Bihar government has resumed the development work at Right Offlocks Barrage on Gandak river on Tuesday after the Government of Nepal nodded for the construction work.

Amidst the lockdown, the Nepal government had stopped its construction work. However, at that time Indian authorities had sought permission from Nepal to start the construction work but the increased level of the Gandak river put an increased emphasis on this issue and the development work has started again.

With the approval for the construction, the team of workers has reached Nepal with anti-erosion material and started working there. After a meeting on Tuesday between Bagaha administrative officials, police officials and officials of Water Resources department, the anti-erosion work on the Right Offlocks Dam located in Nepal on Gandak river has started again.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Bagaha SDM Vishal Raj said, "A mutual agreement has been done through licensing. The erosion has taken place on the right Offlocks Dam which falls in the Nepal region. There will be work done of filling with the G bag packet and the MT packet. Also, the team from the Water Resources Department will inspect all the embankments."

"At present, the Department of Water Resources and state administration are ready to deal with disasters like flood and erosion. There is no possibility of any danger from anywhere. If the repair work would have remained incomplete, the danger on Bihar of getting affected by floodwater would have increased," Raj said.

Gandak Barrage is to have 1.7 km of construction work on the Indian border, while in Nepal, there will be 3.3 km of construction work. Of the 36 gates of Gandak Barrage, 18 gates fall in the Indian territory and the remaining 18 are in Nepal, which is maintained by the Water Resources Department.

The Water Resources Minister, Sanjay Jha also informed in a release that the maintenance work for gate number 29, 31 and 34, was scheduled but was not be done due to the lockdown. The Nepal government had not given permission for this. Now, we got permission from the Nepal government and the Department is planning to develop the construction work as soon as possible."

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