Flood panel reports gathering dust 6 Sep 2007, 0234 hrs IST,Dipak Mishra,TNN PATNA: Each time Bihar reels under heavy floods, the government sets up a technical committee to find out the reasons behind floods and make suggestions to put an end to the perennial problem. CM Nitish Kumar, too, seems to be following the trend. "The suggestions and solutions advocated by former committees have been put in the cold storage. What is the use of setting up a new committee when the suggestions made by the previous panels have not been implemented yet?" wondered former MLA Umadhar Prasad Singh. He said that Nilendu Sanyal, who heads the current technical committee, had already submitted a report in 1988 in this regard. Old-timers like Umadhar Prasad Singh appear convinced that technical committees constituted by the successive governments are merely an eyewash to show the government’s commitment towards solving the problem. The first technical committee formed in 1936 was headed by a British engineer, G S Hall. Interestingly, Hall, in his report, asked the government to desist from making embankments along rivers and warned that embankments would only add to the miseries of the people. The government overruled his views and went ahead with construction of embankments. The second technical committee was formed in 1954 on the advice of the Union government. It was headed by then chief engineer M Mathrani, who worked out a master plan to curb floods at the cost of Rs 25 crore. His report was never implemented. In 1987, yet another technical committee was formed under the leadership of Nilendu Sanyal. The committee submitted its report on April 4, 1988. Since then, the report seems to be gathering dust. In 2004, then water resources minister Jagdanand Singh formed yet another three-member technical committee for the purpose. This committee’s report, too, met the same fate. The current high-level technical committee headed by Nilendu Sanyal submitted its interim report to CM Nitish Kumar on Monday. The members of the committee included Padma Vibhushan Z Tarpore, former director of Pune-based Central Water Commission and Power Research Station; G S Poorva, chief engineer of Central Water Commission; M U Ghani, member, Ganga Flood Control Commission and director (planning) L P Singh. Sanyal is a retired engineer in-chief and special secretary. One hopes that this committee’s report does not meet the fate of earlier ones.