Flood Fear Looms in Banke Village

With the onset of monsoon the water level in Rapti river has been rising but construction of only 156 metres of the proposed 1.2-km embankment along the river is complete, leaving the villages in Holiya VDC at risk of floods.Though flooding is a perennial problem in this VDC, the construction ... ...the embankment aimed at protecting the villagers from flood began only in April.Last year, the Water Induced Disaster Reduction Office had constructed embankment along the river at a cost of Rs 5 million but the river washed it away, leaving 300 households in Simrahana, Chhitipurwa and Raghunathpur villages of the VDC inundated.The officials at the disaster reduction office themselves are not sure whether the new embankment would help protect the villages from inundation."We have completed construction of 156 metres of embankment along the river. If we finish the construction soon, we may be able to protect the villages," engineer Sanjay Kumar Karna said."The construction of embankment started on April 8," chief of the Nepalgunj-based disaster reduction office Gauri Shankar Prasad Singh said."We had forwarded a proposal to the Department of Irrigation seeking Rs 80.5 million for the construction of the 1. But, the department approved only Rs 7. On top of that it has sanctioned only half of the approved fund so far," he said.Separate committees were formed in Pipraha and Tepari villages to coordinate the construction of the embankment.Asharam Maurya, a member of one of the committees, said, "There is a slim chance of protecting the villages even if 1.2-km embankment is constructed. Water level in Rapti has been increasing steadily since Wednesday.Engineer Karna says the river was eroding about two metres of the banks everyday and the embankment construction work was progressing rapidly.The local administration said it had expedited preparation for resettlement of villagers, should flood affect them. "We have demanded at least 300 tents," Banke CDO Narendraraj Sharma said, adding, "We are on alert to reduce the chances of human and physical loss by the flood.The villagers, not sure that the embankment would protect them from flood, have demanded that they be immediately resettled to a safer place.

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