DADELDHURA: Soil erosion in the Chure range and haphazard tree felling in the Mahabharat area have caused water sources to dry up leading to water crisis in the inner Madhes of Dadeldhura.

Massive logging has caused water sources to dry up at Fallekharka, Dobata, Nwali, Rampur, Mashal, Baddi Masala, Rampur and Gogan, among other villages, in the inner Tarai.

Local, Kailash Kumar Pandey said the water level had declined in three big streams of Rangun, Pantura, and Sunkhola. He said that illegal extraction as well as export of sand and boulders from Chure had put the existence of water sources in jeopardy.

Rampant deforestation, along with river mining activities, blamed for the depletion of water level in the region

Parsuram Municipality, one of the most populous municipalities, has also started to face the crisis.

Civil Society Ward Forum Coordinator Ramesh Paneru said most villages in Chure were facing water crunch. He said that villagers had started to drink water from Rangun Khola after numerous water sources in the area dried

up.”Various plans worth millions of rupees for conservation of Chure area have gone down the drain,” added Paneru.

Local teacher Narayan Bhatta attributed haphazard deforestation and road construction to the state that the Chure area is in at present.

Though District Land Conservation Office had started work on preservation of water sources in the area, the efforts, however, yielded little or no result.

Ganesh Bohara, a local from Jogbudha, said the residents in the inner Madhes had started looking for alternative sources of water after the wells began to dry up.