44 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
expenditure of Rs. 2493.56 crore and have benefitted 13.64 million ha. In addition,
Anti-sea Erosion Measures to protect coast-line especially in Kerala were taken up.
Out of the 320 km of vulnerable coast-line 311 km have been protected upto March,
1990.
(3) Upto 42 km existing sea walls have been strengthened. Rs. three point five crore
have been allocated as Central Loan Assistance to Kerala during 1990-91. In
Karnataka, 73.3 km of the coast-line, out of 280 km is vulnerable to sea erosion and
12.89 km of coast-line been protected upto March 1990.
(4) A number of reservoir projects had been completed which have helped in mitigating
flood-peak in the down-stream reaches. Notable among these are Hirakud Dam on
the Sutlej, Pong Dam on the Beas and Ukai Dam on the Tapti. All these works
have afforded a reasonable degree of protection.
(5) The Country on the whole experienced good and well-distributed rains. Rainfall
was normal and well-distributed in 32 out of 35 Metrological Sub-divisions of the
Country and 84 per cent of the Districts recorded excess of normal rainfall. The
rain was deficient in Andaman and Nicobar Island, Lakshadweep and Kerala
meteorological sub-divisions. Heavy rains/flash floods in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Orissa and Kerala characterized the over-all flood situation. Assam, Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal also experienced moderate to high-
intensity floods. It is reported that an area of 4.9 million ha, have been affected by
floods during 1990 monsoon season and a population of 16.2 million were affected
and crops worth Rs. 28.1 crore in an area of about 2.8 million reported to have been
damaged. In all, nearly 882 human-lives and damages to the crops, houses and
public utilities were reported to be the tune of Rs. 41.25 crore.Forecasting
Flood Forecasting Activities have been vastly extended and expanded over the years
since 1959 by covering almost all major inter-state river basins. Currently, the flood forecasting
network compromising 157 flood forecasting stations covers 72 river basins. These sites were
operational during 1990-flood season. The flood forecasting network is also supported by 500
meteorological stations, which collect and transmit data through 400 wireless stations to
various control rooms for processing and issue forecasting.
During the flood season 1990, the number of Flood Forecast issued having benefitted
the state and UTs was about 3,500. About 95 per cent of these forecasts were within
perimissible range of accuracy. With great thrust being accorded to flood forecasting aspect
under the eighth plan period, the number of flood forecasting stations were likely to increase
to about 200 by the end of the eight plan period and to about 300 by the end of the century.
Thrust Area During the Eighth Plan Period
The working group on flood management in its report for the eighth plan (1990-95) laid
stress on non-structural measures viz. flood forecasting and farning, flood plan zoning, flood
froofing and disaster perparedness. Substantially, increased outlays for these activities had
been recommended by the working group which are as follows:
(a) Flood forecasting Rs. 44.30 crore,