Khotang, October 27

Hundreds of residents from over a dozen VDCs in Khotang have been facing a hard time due to delay in repair of bridges, which were swept away by floods four months ago.

A couple of steel truss bridges at Lamiduwali that connected Ratanchha-4 and Dorpachiuridanda-5, Barmi bridge that connected Mattim and Temma, Siruwa bridge that connected Mattim and Chhita Pokhari, among other bridges, were swept away in the flood. Locals from the VDCs have not been able to visit Diktel, the district headquarters, due to delay in repair of the bridges, said Bindra Bahadur Rai of Chhita Pokhari.

Jagannath Phuyal, secretary of Khidima VDC, said movement of people from one VDC to another was impossible unless the bridges were repaired. According to Bhuwan Kumar Acharya, a local, students in the rural areas have been hit the hardest.

“A large number of students, who have to cross the rivers, have stopped going to school. But the government has not paid any attention to the plight of the locals,” regretted Acharya.

Narahari Sapkota, administrative and planning monitoring officer at the District Development Committee, Khotang, said a technical team had assessed the damage caused by the flooding and submitted its report to the concerned authorities.

“We cannot repair the damage at the local level. So, we have submitted a damage assessment report to the concerned authorities through the district disaster rescue committee,” said Sapkota.

Similarly, Pari Maya Rai, 40, and her 12-year-old daughter Samita Rai of Mattim-5, who had gone missing in the Mewakhola flooding have yet to be found. Dozens of households residing in the region were displaced and a large chunk of cultivable land damaged in the deadly floods.