Embankments in the region often break during the monsoon. | WRD Bihar
The Bihar government has been facing opposition from locals to the embankment project on River Bagmati. People of Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga district have been protesting against the project since 2012.
As many as 109 villages of the region are affected by the Bagmati river flooding. Now, before the flood season, villagers are reuniting and holding meetings in Gaighat and Benibad areas to make strategies to continue the protest.
The project, as per the government, is a preventive measure for floods and land erosion. However, the villagers say they are ready to face floods, as they fear the project will cost them their livelihood. Flooding of the Bagmati river, in fact, deposits sediments in the fields, brings vital nutrients for the soil, resulting in increased soil productivity, benefitting the farmers.