SUNSARI, May 29 - After flood in the Koshi River breached the three temporary cofferdams constructed to alter the river’s course on Tuesday night, the Indian contractor has speeded up reconstruction and repair work on the spurs and embankment from Thursday afternoon.

Sheetal Babu Regmi, joint secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), who is at the Koshi site said, Basistha and Basistha, the Indian contractor has started reconstruction and repair work as the water level in the river started decreasing after  rain stopped from Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon about 64,000 cusecs water was flowing in the river while it was 95,000 cusecs on Wednesday afternoon. About 160,000 cusecs water was flowing during the flood last year.

Flood resulting from incessant rain for almost five days had breached the three cofferdams and one pilot channel constructed to divert the Koshi waters towards the barrage on Tuesday night.

Following the breach, the main course of the river diverted towards the eastern side where reconstruction work on the embankment was going on, raising possible threat of inundation after three spurs built along the embankment started eroding, according to officials.

The Indian government has stated constructing five spurs along the 1,700-metre stretch of the Koshi embankment, which is expected to be completed by June 15. However, Nepali officials blame the snail-paced work of Basistha and Basistha and are sceptical that the reconstruction will be completed by the given date. Out of five spurs to be constructed by the Indian side, only three spurs have been constructed till date.

The spurs were constructed to tame the river before this year’s monsoon sets in, according to officials.

According to Ramesh Kulkarni, project manager of Basistha and Basistha, the reconstruction of spurs, which had started eroding after the cofferdams were breached on Tuesday night, has started.

Reconstruction and repair of the damaged spurs will be completed in the next four days and reconstruction of the embankment will speed up after that, he said. A high level team comprising officials of Nepal and India directed the Indian side to speed up reconstruction work after visiting the affected site on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Water Resources minister of Bihar state, India, on Thursday blamed the lack of security provided by Nepal for delay in reconstruction of the destroyed Koshi embankment .

Yadav, who was on a field visit at the site on Thursday said, “Nepal lacked security for the Indian contractor who faced frequent attacks time and again. The frequent obstructions carried out by locals has delayed reconstruction work.”

KATHMANDU, Feb 26 - Keeping in view the disasters caused by the Koshi River over the years, the government has come up with a pilot project to sustainably manage its basins and promote socio-economic development in the riparian community.

A joint initiative of Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) and World Wildlife Fund, the Koshi River Basin Management (KRBM) programme launched on Wednesday will “make optimum use of Koshi basin’s water and related resources to promote socio-economic development for the benefit of people in the basin, while maintaining ecological balance”.

Launching the programme, Acting Secretary of Water and Energy Commission Secretariat Kishor Thapa said the programme would be implemented with active involvement of local governmental and non-governmental organisations and communities in a decentralised system as envisaged under the National Water Plan 2005.

Management of Koshi, a transnational river flowing across the international boundaries of China, Nepal and India, holds wide significance given the fact that it functions as one of the major life support systems for millions of people living along its basins and in south Asia.

According to WWF studies, the river contributes 10 percent of water discharge in the Ganges, and is second only to the Yellow River of China in terms of sedimentation, which leads to massive desertification.

Country Representative of WWF Nepal, Anil Manandhar said that since the Koshi River spans probably the richest topographical diversity flowing through the vicinity of the 8,848-metre high Mount Everest to near-sea-level Koshi Tappu, the programme holds meaning internationally as well.

The river has huge hydro power potential. Wise planning and interventions in the river, according to Manandhar, could go a long way in controlling floods and developing irrigation facilities.

The programme, which is the first of its kind in Nepal, is designed to take off with field activities in the Dudh Koshi Sub-Basin, one of the seven sub-basins of the Koshi River Basin within Nepal.

Kathmandu, Jan 7:The much-awaited reconstruction of 132 KV power transmission lines between Nepal and India that were damaged in the Koshi river flood has begun.

According to Radio Nepal, the reconstruction work expected to complete within two months includes restorations of five towers in West Kushaha of Sunsari district and four towers in neighboring Birpur area in India.

Before the flood Nepal was importing 50 MW of power from Indian through the transmission lines.