DIPAYAL: Landslide victims of Doti's Lanakedareshwor VDC have contracted diarrhoeal disease after it broke out in the VDC three days ago.

A local Buddhisagar Binadi said more than three dozen villagers have fallen ill till Saturday. Their condition is reportedly to be serious.

Some 60 households of Lanakedareshwor VDC 9 had been displaced from the landslide, triggered by incessant rain, beginning the second week of August. They have been taking shelter in the buildings of a local Yuba Barsa Lower Secondary School in Kunthada and nearby schools.

Unattended carcass of cows and goats lying scattered by the recent flood and landslides, compounded by water pollution, has caused the malady, it is argued.

"The outbreak of diarrhoea is a direct consequence of the dead animals mixing with sources of drinking water," a local Prakas Binadi, said.

The recent landslips had killed 20 cows, a pair of bullocks and 15 goats.

Hemraj Joshi, a healthcare worker at a community healthcare centre in Doti, however, said the disease spread from one person to another as the landslide victims were kept huddled in a single room in the schools.

Uutil now, the displaced diarrhoea victims have not got any government relief.

District Public Health Office Doti is ignorant about the disease, locals claimed.

Nearly 300 households have been displaced due to the landslides in the district. Siddha BK, a displaced person from Lanakedareshwor VDC 9, said, "My two houses have been damaged and four goats have died. However, no one came to show any sympathy, let alone compensation."

Meanwhile, Doti Chief District Officer Govindamani Bhurtel said plans were afoot to provide relief for the displaced.