The fishes are gasping, not out of the water this time. Rather in the water itself! The womb of the mythological Virgin River (popularly known as Kosi Maiya) is proving to a graveyard for children this time. It is not at all a flood, rather it is a catastrophe or the curse of the Kosi river. Thousands of acres of residential land under the Saharsa and Purnia divisions-which had been humming with human activity till few days ago-have now turned into a flood-devastated terrain. The roaring sound and sight of five to ten feet deep turbulent water can be heard and seen at uncountable number of places in Madhepura, Supaul, Saharsa, Araria, Katihar and Purnia districts. Also visible on the roads are groups of flood victims - no one knows where they are going and what will happen to them the next moment. The flood water starts from the entry point of Madhepura town, but from Bhkkhi chowk (from where one moves right towards Chousa, Alamnagar and Uda Kishunganj - Bihariganj areas) the scene looks really frightening. Scores of people with bags full of eatables and other household goods and with their little children on their heads are almost creeping in chest-deep water. Many aging people or infants are already buried in their watery graveyard in a number of villages here. Their names can be Rahta, Bhawanipur, Laxmipur, Chharrapatti, Rampur Garhia, Bathni, Bishanpur, Fulkaha, Sukhasan, Korlahi or Haribola - only the names of the villages and the villagers change, but the scene and situation are the same. Moreover, these villages are now only identified by random symbols, as one cannot draw geographical boundaries in the 'sea'. In Supaul district, the situation seems to be worse as the floodwater has entered the residential areas near the Hanumannagar Barrage - which was supposed to be the high land. The people of Bhantabari have taken shelter in a school building near the Kataiya hydro-power station. Dilip Jha is a businessman who has lost almost everything in this flood. "Mere jeewan ki sabhi jama-poonji khatam ho gayee hai. Agar Kusaha ke paas thekedaar aur engineer sachait rahte to in 25 lakh logon ko parlay ka saamna nahin karna parta (I have lost everything now. Had the engineers and contractors been vigilant, these 25 lakh people would not have faced this catastrophe)." He says that after spending three horrible nights on the roof of his house, he finally managed a small private boat - which charged Rs 5,000 for a mere distance of 1.5 km. However, for Dilip that money is of no importance, as it was the only way to save the lives of his wife and children. If the flood victims are to be believed, the contractor involved in saving the embankment was a close relative of a powerful Bihar minister. "You are a journalist. Just investigate who was that contractor who played with the lives of so many people, just to mint money," fumed Shankar of Birpur. "You will get the truth in this operation that under whose regime Bihar was most corrupt." The inundation apart, the floodwater could also show its effects later. Shashi Bhushan Singh, a social activist, anticipates that after the flood the abundant Kosi terrain would turn arid. "The silt and sand will make this area prone to famine. And, who will take care of us at that time," he asked, alleging, "The ongoing relief operation is nothing more than a few drops in the ocean." Such allegations appear to give the advantage to the opposition leaders who had always flayed the present state government's claims of 'sushasan' (good governance). Union railway minister Lalu Prasad said over the phone that he doubted whether all the central aid for the flood victims would reach the needy people. In his typical style, he remarked, "Ka par karoon singaar, piya more aanhar re (All fashion is meaningless, if the lover is blind)." Though the relief and rescue operations have been stepped up in the flood-ravaged areas of Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, Purnia and Araria districts of north Bihar, the plight of the flood victims trapped in temporary shelters continues to be heart-rending. The government agencies including the Indian army have focused their attention on evacuation of the trapped victims to safer places, but the million dollar question is where and how long they are safe. The question according to many social activists visiting the flood ravaged areas has become more significant and alarming because of the static or even increasing water level engulfing new areas. Ranjeev, the Bihar and Jharkhand convener of the Badh- Sukhad Mukti Andolan, who is widely known for his book on the Kosi problem "Jab Nadi Bandhi", said the people won't overcome their present problem until and unless the government devises a suitable mechanism for draining out the the flood water. The government, he adds, will have to take some drastic steps to cut some permanent structures like roads in order to ensure the flushing of the Kosi water into the Ganges. The possibility of more areas being submerged is being viewed as imminent, particularly in the event of a new breach at Rajabasa which is only a few km away from Kusaha. Ranjeev argued that the drainage of floodwater into the Ganges is inevitable for giving relief to the people, but that is only a temporary solution. The Ganges itself is swollen and its flow is checked at the Farakka barrage due to the closure of as many as 60 gates in West Bengal. Since the breach in the Nepal portion of the eastern afflux bund at Kusaha on August 18, the discharge of water from Barahkshetra has been fluctuating between 1.25 lakh cusecs and 2 lakh cusecs but has not reached three or four lakh cusecs which, if it happens, will have disastrous consequences. The river emerging from the Himalayas at Barahkshetra, falls down a steep slope before the flow gets regulated at the Kosi barrage. As the embankment has breached in the mafflux region falling in Nepal, the river water coming from the hills gushes out through the breach-outlet leaving the barrage and downstream areas completely dry. According to the WRD engineers, 80 per cent of the water discharged from Barahkshetra passes through the Kusaha breach point and only the remaining 20 per cent passes through the Kosi barrage. As the breach point is only 12 km away from the barrage, imminent danger to the barrage too cannot be ruled out and this is bound to prove disastrous in new areas. On the other hand, the Bihar water resources department minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav who is also the Supaul MLA, feels that the crisis would be over soon. He told Sahara Time that with cooperation from the Nepal government the WRD had already initiated protection work at the breach site. "The engineers are working on two fronts simultaneously. The most important work is to hold the cut-ends so that the gulf did not widen. And the other work is to build a parallel channel near the breach site to facilitate an alternate outlet leading to the Kosi barrage so that the river adopts her old route. A team of technical experts comprising former chief engineers, Nilendu Sanyal, K N Lai and Brij Nandan Prasad has been deployed to monitor and supervise the ongoing protection work esti