Patna:
"Inordinate delay" in denotifying a three km stretch of land under a bird sanctuary by the Nepalese authorities may make the task difficult for Bihar engineers carrying out maintenance work and plugging the breach caused by turbulent Kosi at Kusaha in upper Nepal.
"We have faced myriad problems in maintaining the embankments in the past and will face it again if the three km stretch of land, falling between the western and eastern embankments, declared as forest zone under a bird sanctuary is not denotified by the Nepalese authorities, state water resources department principal secretary Ajay Nayak said.
The Kosi had, last year, caused unprecedented deluge in the state districts of Purnia, Araria, Supaul, Saharsa and Madhepura after it breached its embankments at Kusaha in upper Nepal last year.
Several people had lost their lives and thousands of families were rendered homeless in the worst-ever floods caused by the swollen river.
Inordinate delay in denotifying the area under bird sanctuary by the Nepalese authorities, also considered one of the reasons that led to the breach as engineers were not allowed free movement in the zone, was likely to hinder the maintenance work of the river's embankments as its spurs on the eastern afflux bund were the first to be affected.