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Seven houses in Purgaon, Mulaghderi, Nepane of Jaljala-2 have been displaced due to the landslide from Kuwapani hill,Jaljala Rural Municipality-5, Lekhphant. About 85 plantations of cultivated land have been turned into wasteland.

Gobind Khatri, outgoing ward chairman of Jaljala-2, said that seven families have been displaced due to landslides caused by rain of June. Khatri said, “there is a problem of landslides whenever it rains, now seven families have to leave the house and have been displaced elsewhere.”

According to him, Nagendra Karki, Padam Karki, Ravin Pun, Dumbar Khatri, Lal Bahadur Jisi, Resham Bahadur Karki, and Dek Bahadur Karki are among the seven households facing the threat. He informed that two families of Resham and Dek Bahadur Karki started living in Kathmandu, but rest five families including Ravin Pun are in the same situation.

Ravin Pun, one of the victims, expressed that he is now taking shelter in the local community building and relatives’ houses after being displaced. Due to the erosion of the mountains above, the settlements in that area are at risk during the rains.

Padam Karki, who was displaced by the landslide, said that about 50 ropani of her land was washed away due to the flood that came from the forest of Kuwapani.He said that “Although we cook and eat at our own home when it’s not raining,however, to spend the night, we have to go to the community building of the Navajagran Women’s Mother Group. Landslides have destroyed corn, beans, millet and rice planted in the fields.

“The place where food crops were planted has turned into a barren wasteland , The suffering caused by the farmer has been destroyed, now what to eat, where to go and live?” said Dumbar Khatri. He also complained that even though he came back to the minister of the state and returned after observing the landslide, no suitable arrangements have been made to stop the landslide and provide accommodation for the displaced people.

He expressed, “No leader or minister has been able to come up with a clear plan to tackle our situation”, “As soon as it rains, we face flood and everything is scattered.” Karki complained that even the local government could not take concrete steps to solve the problem.

Diwakar Paudel, head of the Land and Watershed Management Office, said that it is not possible to immediately manage and protect the cracked hills. He also opined that flood control and protection should be done by giving compensation to people’s land to prevent further damage of the settlements and agricultural land due to flood landslides. Poudel said, “Nothing can be done about Kuwapani’s landslide, it should be studied by a geologist, the mountain has split one hundred meters wide, the ground starts flowing as soon as it rains,” and suggested paying more attention to settlement relocation than landslide management.

 Santosh Thapa