The Government of Bihar and the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) on Monday signed an important Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi. Under it, the MoRTH will dredge the state’s rivers and route recovered sand, silt and sediment into National Highway projects.
Bihar chief minister Samrat Chaudhary and Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari were present at the MoU signing function, which has been an old demand of the state for the state’s ecological restoration, groundwater recharge and flood mitigation. Union minister Jeevan Ram Manjhi was also present on the occasion.
Gadkari described the signing of MoU a major step, the results of which would speak for itself in the times to come. Surplus of water and lack of it both wreak havoc. “There will be no royalty. We will give silt to the NHAI free of cost for road construction. The objective is to rejuvenate rivers and water bodies. Samrat Choudhary has created history through this initiative, which other states would also follow in the years to come. For Bihar, this would also help mitigate floods and drought,” he added. Samrat also described the MoU signing a historic day for Bihar and thanked Gadkari for the initiative to turn Bihar’s weakness into strength. “Bihar is not devastated by its own water, but from water coming from Nepal. The high HFL is an indicator of heavy siltation in rivers,” he added.
I have been working on water conservation for the last 25 years. We have nearly ₹ 5-lakh worth projects ongoing or in the pipeline in the state and that would also benefit without harming the environment. This year Bihar had 32% rain deficit, but the HFL (highest flood level) changed to reach the highest level in three major rivers. Samrat said that Bihar cabinet had in September this year approved the Bihar Water Resources Restoration and Sediment Management Policy (2026), which establishes a legal roadmap to systematically extract sediment from rivers, barrages, and reservoirs.
Because of water scarcity, “I am from the Vidharba area where over 10,000 farmers committed suicide mainly. The Bihar CM was telling me the state incurs a loss of ₹ 10,000 on an average every year due to flood.
Siltation causes huge damage to river and the Samrat government has taken it seriously,” said Gadkari. Gadkari said that dredging of rivers was important and the NHAI would do it without any cost to the Bihar government. “It focuses on maintaining the uninterrupted natural flow of water while enhancing storage capabilities, while strengthening flood management measures,” he added.
