Dhankuta, June 1

With monsoon just around the corner, dozens of houses in Dhankuta are at high risk of floods and landslides, but the local administration has paid no attention to relocate the settlements. People residing on the banks of rivers and steep hills are at high risk.

Around three dozen households living on the banks of Leuti Khola of Sangurigadi Rural Municipality, Sahidbhumi Rural Municipality and Mahalaxmi Municipality’s Arun and Tamor rivers face the risk of landslides and floods.

A member of District Disaster Management Coordination Committee said the local administration did nothing to relocate such households. Around two dozen households living on steep hills along the Bhedetar-Rabi, Hile-Bhojpur road sections of Koshi Highway are at risk of landslides.

District Red Cross Society Dhankuta President Narendra Pokhrel said District Disaster Management Coordination Committee had decided to relocate those at risk last year. “But the decision has not been implemented yet,” he added.

Principal Khel Bahadur Limbu at Sanguri Rural Municipality’s Sita Devi Secondary School said people were living on the banks of the river illegally.