– Gopal Prasad Baral
Mahottari, Aug 21: Binod Khadka, a local of Bardibas municipality-1 has yet to remove the debris brought out to his house by the flood-fed Ganante rivulet on last July 16.
Dwellers of Bardibas like Binod are still spending sleepless nights when the sky seems cloudy in the evening.
The abrupt flooding in the Ganante rivulet had buried motor parts worth amounting to millions of rupees when the flood sneaked into the house of Binod.
More than 10 small rivulets and drains flowing in the distance of around two kilometers area between the Ratu River and Bhabsi River in ward 1, 2 and 14 had brought concretes and sands to the doorsteps of the locals. It had wreaked havoc in the human settlements of three wards.
“The water flowing through hilltop sneaked into the human settlement when it did not get its proper outlet”, said Nagdev Yadav, Chair of Forum for Community Development and Advocacy, who has been leading the campaign for conservation of Chure Watershed Area for the past 15 years.
“The rampant urbanization without managing rivulets and drains has created trouble”, he claimed, adding the settlement has become unsafe due to unhealthy competition among people to develop physical infrastructure including private houses in the urban area.
It is shared that more than 130 small rivulets and drains have been integrated to the Ratu River – the main river flowing through the district. Among them 10 rivulets and drains come to mix with Ratu and Bhabsi rivers which also flow through the main bazaar of Bardibas (ward 1, 2 and 14).
Dr Bijaya Kumar Singh, Chure expert, said the encroachment of the route of small rivulets and drains in human settlement area has created trouble. “There is a stringent need of planned drain management to protect drain-triggered erosion”, he suggested.
