Rautahat, July 7

The swollen Bagmati River has put two villages at the risk flooding in Rautahat.

Floods triggered by incessant rainfall has been eroding the embankment at Badaharwa of Durga Bhagawati Rural Municipality and Basatpur of Rajdevi Municipality. The flooding river  has already swept the dyke and increased the possibility of floodwater gushing into the villages.

According to local Dinesh Yadav, the flood water has eroded the land near the embankment putting sugarcane farms at risk. “If efforts are not taken immediately, the flood water will gush into the human settlements soon,” Yadav said. He shared that the locals were terrified by the prospect of possible loss of life and property.

Bastapur, Chandiha, Gadhiya, Hajminiya and Sirsiya, among other places, are at high risk of flood and erosion in the district. Yadav said people living along the embankment had made up their mind to shift to safer places.  The river has changed its course at Basatpur, which has increased the possibility of huge damage to the embankment. But the local government seems indifferent towards the problems.

Birendra Sah, a social worker, said that erosion had put the embankment at high risk at Badarhawa. Ward chair Dharmanath Chaudhary said the river had started eroding even arable land and would soon erode the embankment. He sought government support for the protection of the embankment.

Rajdevi Municipality Mayor Dhirendra Singh said that it was very important to devise concrete plan to solve the problems caused by the Bagmati and the Lalbakaiya rivers in Rajbiraj. Singh stressed the need to figure out a permanent solution to the floods in the district.

Chief Raj Kumar Shreewastav at Water-induced and River Control Division 3 Office, Parwanipur, said they had repaired the embankment with monetary support from the local level. Shreewastav blamed budget crunch for the recurrent incidents of floods. He, however, pledged to launch programmes to prevent flood at Basatpur and Badarhawa shortly.