The Ministry of Home Affairs provided details on integrated flood emergency management in the Ganga Basin through a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. The Central Government regularly reviews the effectiveness of disaster preparedness and emergency response mechanisms in flood-prone states including Bihar, particularly in view of increasingly frequent extreme rainfall events. Based on these reviews, advisories and alerts are issued to States/UTs for preventive measures.
The issues of flood and river management are addressed through established bilateral mechanisms between India and Nepal, including the Joint Team on Flood Forecasting on rivers common to both countries (JTFF), Joint Committee on Kosi and Gandak Projects (JCKGP), Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM), and Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR).
Several specific steps have been implemented for evacuation planning, resilient communication systems, and emergency logistics in vulnerable districts, including a flood emergency management framework for the Ganga basin. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Central Water Commission (CWC) monitor various parameters using Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Models to forecast rain and likely floods, including flash floods across different parts of the country. These forecasts facilitate preventive actions by disaster management functionaries and help in alerting the general public.
Rain flood forecasting alerts are regularly generated by CWC and IMD and disseminated to concerned States/Districts through State Emergency Operation Centres. Communication of these alerts to the general public and disaster management officials is done through the Sachet App, SMS-based Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), and Cell Broadcast System. Additionally, multi-stakeholder and multi-State level mock exercises are conducted by NDRF and NDMA to enhance preparedness.
The Bihar government follows an integrated flood emergency management approach through coordinated action of line departments including the Disaster Management Department, BSDMA, District Administrations, Water Resources Department, and Home Department. This framework combines structural measures such as embankments, anti-erosion works, and drainage improvement with non-structural measures including flood forecasting, early warning systems, GIS-based monitoring, digital reporting, emergency response, and inter-departmental coordination.