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The villages trapped between the two embankments constructed on both sides of the Kosi River, were caught in no man's land. The population affected was not in hundreds or thousands, but in lakhs, and for them the biggest problem was to save their primary source of livelihood, their agricultural land. It is a well-accepted fact by the people living here that every year their fields will be battered by floods, their produce ruined, their homes flooded and their families displaced. But the people then were confident that the government would understand their predicament and ensure that their needs were fulfilled. Aware of the hardships faced by the community in this area, the government had decided to relocate the affected people. An initial survey conducted found that there were 304 villages located within the embankments with a population of 1.92 lakh whose total landholdings were 2,60,108 acres or 1,05,307 hectares. Dinesh Kumar Mishra, in his book 'Dui Paatan Ke Beech' puts the villages tally at 380, spread over four districts and thirteen blocks, with a population of 9.88 lakh, as per the 2001 census.