The govt must set aside an emergency fund to resettle the affected families at safer places
At least four people were killed while seven others went missing in Sarlahi, Dhanusha and Makwanpur districts following the torrential rains across the country since Monday. As per the preliminary reports from across the country, road connection in seven hilly districts of Sudurpaschim Province with the Tarai region has been cut off after a 200-metre section of the Bhimdatta Highway caved in due to the heavy rainfall, with 107 milimetres recorded in Dhangadi Airport on Monday. It will take weeks to repair the road and resume traffic movement along the highway. Similarly, more than 500 houses were inundated after flood waters gushed into the human settlements, forcing them to take shelter in public schools without food and water. The swollen rivers in the Kathmandu Valley gushed into low-lying areas for hours, causing huge damage to property, vegetables and foodstuffs stored in the godowns, according to police. Torrential rainfall in the eastern part of the country on June 15-16 had also caused heavy damage to roads, bridges, standing maize crop and many hydropower projects and transmission lines. Property worth Rs 9 billion was estimated to have been damaged by the floods and landslides in the eastern part of the country in the third week of June.
It is to be expected that floods and landslides cause heavy damage to individual houses, farmlands and physical infrastructure during the rainy season that lasts for almost four months from the first week of June till September-end, and it may even stretch till the second week of October, as it happened two years ago. This year's monsoon has witnessed erratic rainfall. Some parts of the country have witnessed heavy rainfall while other parts, especially the eastern and central Tarai regions, have so far received less than average rainfall. This situation has led to low or delayed paddy plantation. A preliminary report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has stated that paddy plantation across the country was 15 per cent less than that of last year. This will have telling impact on rice production this year.
What is, however, most frustrating is the government's lack of preparedness to deal with the monsoon-related natural disasters that occur every year. The government's lukewarm response to the natural disasters, such as floods and landslides, is the main reason that renders the affected families homeless every year. Due to the lack of proper planning and preparedness on the part of the three tiers of government, the affected families are forced to mend for themselves. Many of them end up taking shelter at unsafe areas, such as riversides, or in forest areas without support from the government. The federal parliament is the right place to deliberate on such an issue. But the parliament has seen obstructions time and again over issues which could have been resolved amicably. We cannot prevent natural disasters, but we can at least mitigate their impacts on human life by working out a concrete plan of action from top to bottom. The government must set aside an emergency fund through its fiscal budget so that the families affected by the natural calamities could be rehabilitated or resettled at safer places in a planned way without any delay. The lawmakers from both the aisles must discuss it seriously.
Probe Gaur incident
Even after a decade-and-a-half of the Gaur massacre in Rautahat, there has been no effort to bring to book those who were behind the incident in which 27 Maoist cadres were brutally killed. The massacre took place after cadres of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) attacked the Maoist cadres while both were holding rallies at the same place in Gaur on March 21, 2007. However, on Tuesday, the government reached a five-point agreement with the Gaur Massacre Victims' Struggle Committee to investigate the incident and prosecute those involved in it. Following the agreement, all protest programmes that were announced by the committee have been halted.
The question is, will the government really start an investigation or is it just trying to hoodwink the committee? In January this year, the National Human Rights Commission had asked the government to investigate the incident and take action against Janata Samajbadi chair Upendra Yadav, who had masterminded the massacre as head of the MJF. The Prime Minister has been dillydallying with the recommendation as Yadav's support to the coalition government is crucial to stay in power. However, trying to protect alleged culprits to serve personal interests will only send the wrong message to the public.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
