Claim
Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Kulman Ghising opened all the gates of Koshi barrage without consulting India.
Fact
No, Koshi dam is controlled by the Water Resources Department of Bihar state of India.
A video claiming that Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Kulman Ghising has taken a bold decision by opening all the gates of Koshi Barrage without taking permission from India is going viral on TikTok.
Earlier on October 5, media reports confirmed that all 56 gates of the Koshi Barrage were opened after the water level of Saptakoshi River crossed the danger mark.
In this context, TikTok user @tekendrabashyal8 posted a video carrying a photo of Kulman Ghising against the backdrop of Koshi barrage. Text superimposed on the video reads, “I did not take permission from India to open the gates of Koshi barrage. Kulman took a bold decision of opening all gates of Koshi Barrage in favour of Nepal.” The claim is referring to the recent opening of all gates of Saptakohsi barrage after the rise of water levels on October 5, 2025.
The video has racked up 21.4k likes, 202 users have shared it and 44o people have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be false.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim, Newschecker looked up news reports regarding Minister Ghising and the recent opening of sluice gates at Koshi barrage. However, we didn’t find any credible reports about Kulman Ghising directing to open the gates of Koshi barrage.
On digging further, we found that the 1966 Koshi Agreement between Nepal and India has granted India control over the gates and management of the river for flood control and irrigation purposes.
We found several articles published on credible Nepali media confirming that the gates of Koshi barrage are being controlled by the Water Resources Department of Government of Bihar and opened at India’s discretion. (See here, here & here)
Thus, our findings clearly showed that newly appointed Minister Ghising has not intervened in opening the gates of Koshi barrage.
Conclusion
No, Minister Ghising did not make any comment about opening the gates of Koshi barrage, the claim made in the viral video is exaggerated and false.
Result: False
Sources
eKantipur ,
Water Resources Department Government of Bihar
Himal Khabar, August 12, 2022
Onlinekhabar, July 14, 2019
Annapurna Express, Aug 29, 2025,
