Gaighat, February 23

Mining of river products from the Dwarkhola River of Udayapur's Chaudandigadhi Municipality has been disrupted following obstruction by local residents.

Even though there have been frequent talks and discussion among the stakeholders, including political representatives, no agreement has been reached thus far. Locals have blocked the mining, citing that it poses a threat to nearby human settlements, drinking water projects, and irrigation projects.

Chaudandigadhi Municipality had contracted mining of river products from the river for Rs 10.6 million.

'As the haphazard mining posed a risk to human settlement, we had to swing into action to stop the mining,' said local Buddhahang Rai, adding, mining won't be allowed to resume at the cost of human settlement.

'If blocking the mining will cause loss to the municipality, we are ready to raise a fund ourselves and compensate for the obstruction of works related to mining,' he said. He also urged the municipality to find other income sources.

Mayor Kalu Lama said the municipality had no plan to excavate by putting human settlement at risk. 'We awarded the contract by following due process of environment testing and so on,' he said.

'We have stopped mining in the area that could pose risk to human settlements, but as the locals haven't relented, it has caused problem,' he said.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 24, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.