BAJURA, JULY 28
Dozens of human settlements in Bajura are at high risk of landslides due to haphazard use of excavators for opening road tracks.
Ward 7 Chairman of Badimalika Municipality Dharma Raj Padhya said villages along the Martadi-Kolti road section were at risk. He said that human settlements at Chuthi, Rajatoli, Anai, Dhamkane and Bhraule are also at risk of landslide following incessant rainfall.
As many as 137 families in Himali Rural Municipality have been displaced due to landslides. Rural municipality Chairman Govinda Bahadur Malla said 40 families of Phaiti village and 97 families of Quedi have been left in the lurch following the same.
In-charge of Kolti Area Police Office Debendra Joshi said human settlements were in peril as a road track was opened just below the human settlements. Following the opening of the road track, some villages have been damaged as the land caved in.
Likewise, the human settlement at Maimatola of Badimalika Municipality was also at high risk of landslides as a road has been constructed just above the village.
Nari Bista, a local, said that the road tracks were opened haphazardly despite the locals' protest. Haphazard construction of road has put ten houses at risk. He added that local bodies had displace people in the name of development.
A huge chunk of fertile land has been damaged and three human settlements are at high risk from Martadi to Gaumul Rural Municipality due to landslides. The locals have been left in the lurch after their lands turned barren.
Displaced locals have demanded their relocation.
A local at Chhededaha Rural Municipality Surat Thapa said that the road tracks were opened without carrying out environment impact assessment and technical study. He added that as many as 100 families were at high risk after landslides occurred just above a village at Dogadi.
According to Forest Division Office, Bajura, a large number of trees were cleared for the road construction.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 29 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
