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India strengthening illegal dyke across border, raising flood alarms in Rautahat

An illegal dyke is strengthened near the Nepal-India border, across Ishnath municipality of Rautahat district, in May 2020.

Rautahat, May 9

Taking the opportunity of the lockdown, India is found to have been strengthening an illegal dyke near Nepal-India border pillars across the Ishnath municipality of Rautahat district in southern Nepal.

Fearing that it would increase the risk of inundation in the town in the upcoming monsoon, locals have expressed fury over the move. The Banjaraha settlement of the municipality suffers inundations every monsoon.

About a decade ago, India had built the illegal dyke that lies east of the border pillar number 346, stretching to Banjaraha. Now, the Indian side is raising the height of that dyke by more than five feet using soil.

It is forbidden to build any kind of structure, temporary or concrete, in the no man’s land. Instead of bringing the structure down, India has been adding sacks upon sacks filled with soil and rocks to increase the dyke’s height.

Even after the local authorities have reported about the illegal structure being built against the written agreement between the two countries, Ishnath-1 ward chief Bigu Sah informs, there has been no response from the central government’s side.

“With the dyke’s length of over two kilometres, height 15 feet and depth of 10 metres, the Indian side has left no outlet for Nepal to discharge the water,” Sah adds.

Meanwhile, Rautahat’s Chief District Officer Basudev Ghimire also complains that his Indian counterparts are not listening to him about the illegal act.

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