Mahendranagar, 26 July

After the river Mahakali started cutting in Kutiakawar located in Dodhara Chandni Municipality-10 of Kanchanpur, the local residents are engaged in the construction of a temporary embankment.

Due to the confluence of the Jogbudha and Mahakali rivers, the area is flooded and eroded every year. Kishore Kumar Limbu, city head of Dodhara Chandni Municipality informed that despite the normal water level increase in Mahakali river, the river has started cutting towards the settlement. "The Mahakali river has started eroding at a distance of 40-50 meters from the settlement, so we have started to make a temporary embankment to prevent it", said city chief Limbu, "So far, the river has eroded more than two bighas of land."

He said that it was very difficult to work when the water level in the Mahakali river increased. At present, the local people in that area are working on a temporary embankment to reduce the flow of water using tree branches, bamboo and ropes.

When the Mahakali started cutting without a big flood, the locals here became panicked. "The arable land here is being rapidly eroded by the river", said Prem Sarki, a local, "The residents here have not been able to sleep due to the fear of flooding." He said that the local municipality should work immediately to stop the erosion.

Local Mayadevi Sunar said that every year floods cause damage here, so we have to find an alternative to the settlement. "It is surrounded on three sides by the Jogbudha River and on one side by the Mahakali River", she said, "There is a lot of flooding and erosion here. Because of the flood, many have migrated from here to other places."

She said that the flood last year had turned turmeric and vegetable cultivation into wasteland. In this settlement where 50 families live, the local residents earn their living by producing vegetables. The flood has turned the vast land here into a wasteland.