KANCHANPUR, OCTOBER 30
Some villages of Ward No 12 of Shuklaphanta Municipality in Kanchanpur district comprising places such as Tilaki, Chandapur, Duwaha, Ekantakuna, Shantitole and Jaijala in particular, are vulnerable to flooding.
These settlements have been hit hard by disaster every year, resulting in the loss of lives and property.
Flooding one month ago caused a big loss in the area while over two dozen people were displaced. Crops in 20 bighas of land were destroyed.
Five bighas of land have turned into wasteland due to the flooding. Similarly, a suspension bridge over the Banhara River was swept away. As a result, local people have to risk their lives crossing the river during monsoon.
A makeshift bridge has been constructed in the area which is usable only during winter.
Every year, dozens of families are displaced by flooding in the Doda and Banhara rivers.
Repeated requests to the authorities to do the needful have remained unheard so far, complained local Ram Bahadur Dagaura.
The people at risk of flooding are desperate to share their problems with the November 20 election contestants with the hope that their problems will be resolved. They have made up their mind that they will vote for only those who will genuinely hear them and do the needful to resolve their problems.
"We are prone to flooding every year without strong embankments in the river. We will only vote for candidates who come up with a masterplan to construct embankments in the river," he said.
Laxman Rana, another local, said: "We don't need cash or relief. We only need construction of embankments.
We are looking for candidates who can guarantee this. We will not give vote to candidates who only talk but don't walk the talk by constructing the embankment."
The flood-affected families have put up a banner right across the road leading to Tilaki village. The banner reads- "Candidates not committed to constructing the embankment are prohibited."
The flood victim families have formed a struggle committee and put forth this demand for construction of the embankment.
"Bridge, culverts, roads and drinking water structures are not priority. Only the construction of embankment to protect our homes, farmlands, and our lives and property from the ravaging flood is the priority. We have demanded this," reiterated Dhurka Rana.
The members of the struggle committee rued, "It is not that we had not demanded construction of embankment from candidates asking for votes in the previous elections. All pledged to construct the embankment. Those who lost in the elections did not return to our settlement, but even those who won did not care to construct the structures."
So, according to them, this time they have put up a banner to make the candidates aware of their primary demand.
As said by the locals, settlements started to be developed in all the six villages 59 years back in 1965. So far 95 families have been displaced from these settlements due to floods and have migrated to other places.
"We are always worried during the monsoon. The only nearby safest area around here is the Lalajhadi forest," Said Jayaram Rana, adding that there was no option other than to move to the Laljhadi forest and build homes there if measures were not taken to protect the settlements from flood and erosion.
Although the locals have been demanding construction of embankment and other river training measures since long, it has gone unheard ever since.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 31, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
