Dry landslide, wildfires in far-west

Dadeldhura, March 3

Incidents of wildfire have triggered dry landslides in many places on the Dipayal-Dadheldhura road section of KI Singh Highway, posing threat to the vehicles plying through the route.

“It was in the morning when I was on my way to Dadeldhura from Dipayal, all of a sudden a huge debris fell from above; thank god I had already crossed the stretch when the debris fell,” said jeep driver Ranjit Sijapati, who had a narrow escape from the landslide today morning.

Many other drivers have also rued the risky drive on the highway stretch due to intermittent landslide and shared their plight of having to be stranded on the way for hours before the road opened.

Acting Forest Officer Laxmi Joshi rued the practice of setting fire to the forest and said, “While in many cases it’s the locals who do this to let new grass grow and the hunters, intent on poaching wildlife there, in other cases such wildfires are caused by the negligence of smokers.”

Regional Forest Office Kailali director Shiva Kuamr Wagle, on his part, stressed the need to raise awareness among the public.