Kosi Embankment: Encroachment or Compulsion? Bihar's System Under Scrutiny

• Displaced by 1984 Kosi floods, thousands of families settled on the Kosi embankment in Saharsa, Bihar, due to lack of rehabilitation.
• Temporary huts have evolved into permanent and multi-story houses over four decades, technically an encroachment but socially a compulsion for flood victims.
• Residents on the embankment receive government facilities like electricity and water (Jal Nal Yojana), raising questions about administrative oversight.
• Electricity Department states connections require land documents, but residents claim using old village land receipts while living on the embankment.
• The situation highlights administrative negligence, lack of rehabilitation policy, and the failure to provide a permanent solution for flood victims.

Why It Matters: Lack of rehabilitation for 1984 Kosi flood victims led to embankment settlements, exposing systemic failures.