Rajbiraj, May 18

With  monsoon just around the corner, flood victims of Saptari are living in a fear of possible floods this year as well, thanks to the authorities that have  failed to adopt river control measures in  flood-prone areas.

As  per an official data, around 25 houses were completed destroyed while  742 others received damages from floods in Khando, Mahuli, Jita,  Triyuga, Balan, Amaha and Sundari.

Similarly, some 3,690 houses were submerged in floodwaters. Around 1,489 families were displaced from the floods last year in the district.

“As the Khando River is causing maximum damage every year, we need to work towards controlling flood rampage, but sadly work has been hampered due  to disputes with the locals at places and due to lack of budget,”  said Rajbiraj-based Khando Control Project chief senior divisional engineer Bishnudev Yadav.

No sooner had the project started its work in Tilathi, it had to be halted after the locals protested demanding that the flood-control measures be developed on the basis of the original course of the river, or compensation be provided for their lands.

“As we already have a small budget to complete the task, paying compensation was out of question, so we had to shift our work to Rayapur,” said Yadav, adding, “We required more than 346 million rupees to work on controlling the rivers but what we have is just around 156 million rupees, which apparently is not enough to complete the work.”

Meanwhile, locals of Thilathi have demanded that the work of river control be resumed at other than the disputed places keeping in view the upcoming monsoon season, which causes havoc in Tarai every year.