Satellite photo captures disaster: (1) The breach: 3km wide, widening 200m daily. (2) Second breach at Bhimnagar, which can cause havoc in Araria town (3) Water gushing down: 200-year-old channel of Kosi (4) Photo taken on August 22: By now Kosi has grown and travelled further south to meet Ganga at Kursela. (TOI Photo)

”…….A red alert has now been sounded in Kursela, Barari, Sameli and Amdabad blocks in Katihar district, and officials and others have been asked to keep themselves in readiness to meet any eventuality. "The flood water has seeped through Amdabad block and is posing threat in other blocks as well," said Katihar DM D Verma.

In Supaul and Araria districts, the Army has been called in for evacuation of people. Jawans of Sashastra Seema Bal are also engaged in the relief and rescue work.

Bihar's disaster management minister Nitish Mishra told TOI on Wednesday 10,000 people have been so far evacuated from marooned villages of Chhatapur, Basantpur and Pratapganj in Supaul district and brought to a relief camp on the border of Araria and Supaul districts.

At least two million people in Supaul, Madhepura and Araria districts have been severely affected by the Kosi floods which, at the moment, show no sign of abating…………”

More photos of the rescue work / evacuation of the flood affected people can be seen at the link given below.

An estimate puts the affected people at 32 lakhs from the five districts of Supaul, Madhepura, Araria, Saharsa and Purnea. Many people have lost lives, homes, cattle and their land and consequently their means of livelihood. In fact their whole lives and that’s not being dramatic. As the water kept rising the affected people were forced to take refuge on the upper land of adjoining areas such as roads, canals to save whatever they could in the face of the natural disaster. The first to provide succour were the villagers from the neighbouring areas, who came forward with their limited resources, to provide food and shelter to the flood affected people. Eventually, the State Government and the National Government machinery got activated. The Prime Minister declared this as a National Calamity, and the Army, Navy and the Air Force were pressed into service for evacuation of the affected people and providing relief by way of air dropping of food packets. Many NGOs also came forward to provide relief. Gradually, when the awareness about this calamity spread through media, individuals, groups and large number of people in the country and abroad wanted to help and contribute funds, food, clothes etc in their own way.

The IRS Officers and other officials of the Income Tax Department, have been always actively involved in helping people cope with natural disasters. In the past they have come together on several occasions like during the Orissa Cyclone. In keeping with this tradition, they once again came together in a meeting on 2.9.2008 and the National Leaders and Representatives of the Associations and Federations issued a joint appeal to donate one day’s salary

In addition to this, a meeting was organized on 4.9.2008 in the Recreation Room of Central Revenue Building, New Delhi, which was attended by officers and staff of the different Income Tax Offices of Delhi who, in an expression of their fervour, decided to do something more than just the passive donation of one day’s salary. The care, concern and passion to help the unfortunate people affected by the flood were overwhelming. Every person wanted to participate actively and provide relief directly through our own people. A large number of people volunteered to go to the affected area for relief work. Many people had already been working in this direction in their own way, as such the groundswell already existed for providing relief directly.

It was unanimously decided that we would collect food items, old clothes and other provisions which would be given to Goonj a NGO working in this field and Mr.Niraj Nath, ITO would supervise this work. Considering the needs of the affected people and keeping in view the resources available, a few specific relief materials were identified for distribution on the site, mainly - (a) Plastic sheet for hutments; (b) Sarees for women and dhotis for men; (c) Clothes for children; and, (d) Medicines. In order to ensure that the relief material actually reached the affected people, it was decided that this relief material would be taken by truck to the affected sites and distributed by our own people. Mr.Alok Kumar, (IRS), Addl. CIT, was selected to supervise the collection of relief material and resources. The leaders of the Union of Group-C officials of Delhi Charge volunteered to do the ground work for collection of money and material. It was also decided that a team of Officers and Officials would visit the affected areas and distribute the relief materials directly to the people. Since a large number of volunteers were available Mr.Radha Krishan, DCIT, was selected to shortlist and organize the volunteers for this purpose. A Committee called the ‘Kosi Flood Relief Committee Income Tax Department Delhi‘ was formed to coordinate, oversee and organize the entire operation and, personnel from all groups of Officers and Officials of the Income Tax Department, Delhi were nominated to this Committee.

In view of the limited resources we decided to target one district as we could not cover all areas. Supaul was chosen as it was the first district to bear the brunt of Kosi flood and it was the most difficult place to reach by rail or road. An additional factor was that it was a familiar area for one of the volunteers. The local Saharsa Income–Tax Office was informed about the itinerary of our team of volunteers and they helped in facilitating the work. The local district administration was also informed about our plan of action for relief work.

We had collected the following relief material:-
(a) 14000 sarees for women;
(b) 1000 plastic sheets;
(c) 6 cartons of medicines for diarrhea, cough, fever, vomiting and medicinal soaps; and
(d) Two cartons of clothes for children.

Shri Ganesh Prasad, TA volunteered to escort the truck carrying the relief material which started from Delhi on 10.09.2008 and reached Supaul on 14.09.2008. Another team headed by Mr.R.K.Jha, (IRS) Addl.CIT, comprising of Shri S.K.Chatterjee (IRS) DCIT, Shri Neeraj Nath, ITO and Shri Alok (cousin of Shri Neeraj Nath) headed for Supaul on 14.09.2008 by train and reached there in the evening on 15.09.2008.

Day Two: 17.09.2008: Taking a tractor and three small SUVs, the team went to Duania Pul, the farthest place upto which vehicles could go. It was the largest settlement of the flood affected people. There were four to five rows of jhuggis lined up for about 7 kms from Simrahi to Duania, on both sides of the road (National Highway No.57). It was a sea of humanity out there, and the sight of the temporary settlement was quite humbling and made one feel dwarfed before the might of turbulent Kosi. With the help of local administration, the team got 4 police constables to assist them in distributing the relief material. The Volunteer Team worked till 11p.m. and the covered the following places along the road:

Having limited time at their disposal, the Volunteer Team took feed back about dedicated NGOs working in the area and gave 1500 sarees and two cartons of children’s clothes to the following organizations for distribution:

Medicines were given to People’s Acton Group, an NGO working in the medical field, since they were better equipped to assess the needs of the people and made sure that the right help was given to the needy.

Day Three: 18.09.2008: The team started their return journey for Delhi after completing the work. Tired but happy that they could contribute a little towards helping the flood affected people.

A few glimpses of the relief operation are reproduced in form of photographs for which thanks are due to the team member Shri Alok for giving us a photographic record of the work done in Supaul.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. The modest scale of the operation does not detract from the fact that the Income Tax personnel had the commitment, passion and the grit to slog it out and physically distribute the relief material. As an Organization, it showed our care for human life, and the willingness and capacity to extend a helping hand to a suffering group of people. It may be a small step but nevertheless a step in the right direction and in right earnestness. Rather than passively lamenting the inadequate efforts by the Govt. and the NGOs, we set out to undertake relief operations directly and WE DID IT.

It gives us confidence that we can organize our efforts in such times of national distress and contribute our mite to help our less fortunate brethren. Suggestions to further help people affected by the disaster caused by the Kosi Floods may be sent to the following:

Going to the relief site was quite an experience in itself which none will ever forget. As Khalil Gibran has said in The Prophet -

“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

Acknowledgements:
1. All IRS Officers and other Officials of the Income Tax Department Delhi Offices who donated generously their time, money, effort and thoughts.
2. All individuals and entities outside the Department who contributed generously towards relief material, their time and efforts but will remain unnamed for personal reasons.
3. All volunteers who worked tirelessly for making this operation a success.
4. The District Administration and Police Department of Supaul District.