Rautahat Residents Live in Fear of Floods Due to Weak Embankment

Janakpurdham. Jagmati Devi Baitha, who is in her late sixties, is sitting and staring at the embankment on the banks of the Bagmati River in Brahmopuri village of Rajdevi Municipality, Rautahat. She is anxious with the onset of the monsoon as floods have repeatedly inundated her home.

Showing the rising water level in the Bagmati, she said, 'As the water rises here, we become anxious. Three years ago, the flood devastated the entire village. It washed away the paddy crops planted in the fields, as well as the food grains and belongings in the house.'

Although she and her family survived, Baitha said there is no guarantee that the fate of three years ago will not repeat itself. 'The monsoon has started. I am constantly afraid of becoming homeless,' she said. She recounted her experience of saving her life by staying on the roof all night during the devastating flood of 2050 BS.

Not only her, but Ramdatt Das of the same place has similar concerns. He, working as an office assistant, says that three people died in the village due to the flood in 2050 BS. He said, 'At that time, many families were displaced. Now the government has built an embankment, albeit of poor quality, but what is its reliability?'

Das said that with the onset of the monsoon, a sense of fear has increased in his mind. He said, 'I pray to God daily that the flood does not cause damage to life, property, and crops again.' He recounted how he saved his life by staying on a tree all night during the 2050 BS flood.

Although the government built this embankment in 2050 BS, due to lack of maintenance, it has been eroded in many places. Due to the lack of attention to reconstruction, villages near the embankment are at risk of floods and inundation. Das said, 'Inspect the embankment area, it is cracked in many places. If there is heavy rain, the embankment could break and the river water could enter the village.'

A part of this embankment was built with the help of the Chinese government and a part with the help of the Indian government. According to locals, the embankment, built three decades ago, was filled only with sand, not gravel and stones, locals complain.

After that, many eroded places of the river have been filled with gabions filled with stones and gravel. While the places where gabions have been installed are somewhat safe, the local Ramnaresh Singh said that the weak structure of the main embankment could pose a danger.

He said, 'There have been big leaps in political change in the country. There are governments at the federal, provincial, and local levels. However, no government has paid attention to the security of the people living around the flood-affected areas.'

With heavy rainfall, areas like Brahmopuri, Chandihasbatpur, Patahi, Mathkatarwan, Sedhwa, Mohanpur, Balara of Rajdevi Municipality are affected. With the onset of the monsoon, as dark clouds gather in the sky, the residents here are forced to live in fear of floods.

Jagdish Das, who is in his seventies, said, 'When it starts raining, we cannot sleep all night.'

He complained that while the Indian government has built a strong embankment in the Indian area at risk of floods, the Nepali government has not been able to pay attention to the security of its citizens in the same way. He said that the Indian government pays attention to the reconstruction of the embankment every year, so the height of the embankment has become much higher compared to Nepal.

Bhikhariray Yadav, the mayor of Rajdevi Municipality, said that the embankment along the Bagmati River is very old. He told Ratopati, 'Because of the embankment, we have sent letters to the Chief District Officer from the center so that no untoward incident occurs within the municipality, but there has been no response.'

Motorcycles, jeeps, and bicycles travel on the embankment. Mayor Yadav informed that to prevent any untoward incident on the embankment, the municipality has filled sacks with sand, managed drainage, and kept a JCB ready for deployment if anything happens.

Locals have emphasized the need to increase the height of the dilapidated embankment, build embankments with gabions below the embankment, increase special monitoring in areas where the water flow changes, and for the government and officials to pay special attention to embankment construction like that done in India.

There is no system in place to provide advance warning if the water level in the river rises and reaches the village. Locals say that although the state provided microphones, torches, tarpaulins, and other materials to the villagers for advance warning a decade ago, there is no such arrangement now.