Adding to the woes are haphazardly dug roads

Last year it rained continuously from October 19 to 24. On October 22, 2079, two houses in Barkote were destroyed by a landslide. After the same landslide swallowed her husband, who was working seasonally to sell herbs and blankets in India, the burden of all the responsibilities fell on the 19-year-old memory. On the one hand, a single life with the loss of her husband and on the other hand, the car of life made desolate by the road has become her destiny. "If the husband was afraid, this would not have been sad," she said, "the landslide that cut the road took away the husband, and it made us survivors miserable." She remembers taking care of her three-year-old son and mother-in-law who is disabled.

Shahi remembers losing her husband when a landslide destroyed her house in Barkote, Jumla, showing her village. Photo: Kantipur

There is an irrigation canal three hundred meters above the settlement. A rural road dug up by dozers two years ago damaged Kulo. "The terrain here is still weak, it became looser with dozers, rain kept falling, water from the culvert flowed towards us, it caused a landslide," said local Dambar Bahadur Shahi. According to Birkh Khatri, former ward president of No. 5 when the road was being built, the problem arose because a dozer cut the road without coordinating with the ward. "The soil that was thrown after cutting the road melted in the rain," he said.

A decade of data is presented in a 'cumulative' method.

In order to reduce and prevent damage caused by road construction like in Barkot, for the first time 27 years ago, the provision of environmental study was brought under the Environment Protection Act, 2053. It was amended in 2076 to bring local roads under its scope. The process of blindly constructing roads by using heavy equipment (dozers) without doing environmental studies as much as possible has not been stopped. 'It is better to dig roads and bring development to villages,' says Angela Tamrakar, a structural engineer working in the field of disaster management. The marked houses of Barkotebada were buried by a landslide that fell from the road on October 22. All the seven members of the two families, including Surendra Hamal, the husband of Yajanan Shahi, who were sleeping in the same house, died. Satellite photo source: Google Earth Pro (year 2020 and year 2023)

Tamrakar, a structural engineer who has seen road landslides in the eastern hills, says that the result of not advancing development and disaster management together, including geological, engineering, and environmental aspects, is becoming more frightening. Due to the increased risk of landslides in the slums, people are being forced to leave the village where they have been living for generations. Tamrakar said that according to the 2078 census, the population of Tehrathum, Bhojpur, Khotang, Ramechhap and Manang in the country is negative due to factors such as landslides caused by indiscriminate road construction, damage to settlements and agriculture, and drying up of drinking water sources.

A decade of data is presented in a 'cumulative' method.

The road entered the village, the landslide is causing the uprooting, she said. The study report "Landslides, Road Construction and Disaster Risk Reduction" published in 2078 showed a frightening picture of roads causing landslides. According to the report, 61 percent (205) of the 337 landslides occurred in 35 hilly districts across the country throughout the year 2077 and the remaining landslides occurred in mountains without roads. According to the National Census 2078, 61 thousand people from all over the country have been forced to leave their homes and migrate elsewhere due to disasters including landslides.

The government is flouting the law

According to the current Environmental Protection Regulations, 2077, a brief environmental study is required when constructing a local road, an initial environmental test (IEE) when constructing a new road up to 25 km in length, and when constructing any new road with a length of more than 25 km. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required. Similarly, IEE is required for upgrading or reconstruction of national highways or auxiliary roads with a length of more than 10 km to 50 km, and EIA for upgrading or reconstruction of national highways or auxiliary roads with a length of more than 50 km. But the government itself is failing in implementation.

The data of a decade has been presented in the 'cumulative' method. From the financial year 072/73 to 075/76, the road expansion work across the country has increased more than other years .

The 'Auditor General's Annual Report 2078/79' has pointed out that this study could not be implemented strictly even in projects of national pride. In that year, out of 7,215 projects included in the information management system of the Planning Commission, the environmental study reports of 502 were not approved.

Among them, Beni-Jomsom-Korola road project under Kaligandaki corridor, Arun corridor, Kanti Lokpath, Dumre-Besishar-Chame road project, Galchi-Trishuli-Mailung-Safrubensi-Rasuwagadhi, Kaligandaki-Tinau diversion and 382 projects have been approved. It has been pointed out that construction work can be done without construction. Among those submitted to the Planning Commission, the procurement process was mixed without submitting IEE and EIA report, Tumkot-Simikot section of Hilsa-Simikot road of Karnali Corridor, Dumre Bensisahar Chame road project, Palpa-Maidan-Arghakhanchi section of Saljhandi-Dhorpatan road project, Salli Chowrzahari Dolpa road Kaindanda-Chowrzahari - A multi-year contract was approved for the Dolpa section, Seti highway from Thuligand to Setigand and from there to Sanfebagar road project.

Yamlal Bhusal, spokesperson of the National Planning Commission, claims that large road projects will not be approved without completing the engineering and environmental studies. Badriraj Dhungana, joint secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, says that although road plans are not approved without environmental studies, there is a political gambit after the inauguration. He, who is also a spokesperson, says, 'without completing the process, the leaders have cut the ribbon, laid the foundation stone and arranged the paper later.' had received According to the Ministry of Physical Education, 34 thousand 100 km of roads extended by the federal government and 66 thousand 57 km extended by the provincial government and local level have been connected to a total of 1 lakh 157 km of road network across the country. This is the data till February of last year 2079/80. Among the provincial and local roads across the country, 55 percent (36 thousand 383 km) are in the mountains, 15 percent (10 thousand 243 km) are in the mountains and 30 percent (19 thousand 227 km) are in the plains.

What is the coincidence that in the year 2074/75 when people's representatives came to the local bodies without people's representatives for 15 years, only 971 km of new roads were built across the country. Which is the highest since 2070/71. And since the year 2075/76, the rate of landslides has doubled from the previous year. According to the data of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the number of landslides in the year 2075/76 has doubled compared to the previous year. Last year, there were 231 landslides across the country. It increased to 463 in the year 2075/76.

Government figures are not sure

The government machinery is aware that the damage is increasing day by day. It has become like a national problem. However, it has not been ascertained how many roads are without environmental studies. Forest Ministry Spokesperson Dhungana, Environment and Biodiversity Division Joint Secretary Rajendra KC, Physical Infrastructure Ministry Joint Secretary Umeshvindu Shrestha, Urban Development Ministry Local Infrastructure Department Senior Divisional Engineer Narayan Prasad Shrestha and Roads Department Deputy Director General Spokesperson Ramhari Pokharel said environmental studies will be mandatory on roads funded by donor agencies. Although it is said that there is no definite data.

Landslide in mountainous terrain.

'If it is built with the investment of donor agencies, it is mandatory, it may be less in Salbasali, which is built with government investment,' said Spokesperson Pokharel, deputy director general of the road department, 'instead, the state and local levels deliver roads from house to house, they are the ones who have damaged the roads due to landslides.' Shrestha, joint secretary of the ministry, said, "Out of 34,100 km of federal roads, 80 of them are 14,900 km of highways, local roads built in the budget of other unions are also included, it is not known how many roads have undergone environmental studies." Dhungana, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Forestry, said that it would be possible without a study, but the exact data is not available. Shrestha, a senior divisional engineer of the local infrastructure department of the Ministry of Urban Development, who collects data on local and regional roads, said, 'When you go to the environment, there is a lot of compensation and why waste money in vain, how can the road be built by spending it?' Dinanath Bhandari, a researcher on disaster risk reduction, says that the environmental study on the road is done only for formalities. "The roads with environmental studies can be counted on the fingers, there are no roads that are being built in such a way that there is no or very little environmental and disaster risk," he said.

Officials of the federal government cannot get away with blaming the local levels, says Lakshmidevi Pandey, president of the Central Working Committee of the National Federation of Rural Villages Nepal. "It is said that the environmental aspects were neglected under the pretext of digging roads, because there was no skilled manpower, no ability to carry out geological studies, the road had to be dug depending on what the overseer saw," she said. We are giving up.'' According to the records of the disaster authority, in the last one decade, 2 thousand 532 landslides have killed 1 thousand 133 people and caused a loss of 1.6 billion 79 million rupees. This description is only for the damage caused by landslides in 49 Himalayan and hilly districts specified by the Local Government Operation Act, 2074. Even the disaster authority does not have the fragmented data of how many landslides occurred on the road or how many people lost their lives, how much damage was done. "A separate study should be done for this," said Anil Pokharel, executive head of the authority.

Farming becomes bogged

The livelihood of 28 farming families of Bhirmaura and Khadi Khola in Narayan Municipality-4 of Dailekh is in crisis after the roads built by Karnali province and local level without environmental study have damaged irrigation canals and arable land. The farming fields were irrigated for twelve months with the facility of 'Bhirmaura irrigation and water spring' for generations. The road led to water springs and irrigation ditches. The agricultural land of 28 families has become barren.

According to the agricultural calculations of the National Statistics Office, in the last one decade, there has been 'soil erosion and physical degradation' of cultivated land at the rate of 1,496.4 hectares every year. According to the calculation of 2068, the 'soil erosion and physical degradation' of agricultural land across the country was 54,738.90 hectares. By the end of 2078, this rate has increased by 14,964 hectares to 69,702.90 hectares. Hemraj Regmi, the chief statistician of the National Statistics Office, says, 'Even where roads have been built randomly, landslides have caused damage to arable land.' This year, the road that was dug at a cost of 50 million will be covered by landslides, and next year, 2 million will not be enough. Houses, settlements, farms are enough," he said. 76 families including Dogadi Health Chowki in Bajura, sports ground in Masteshwari Mavi and Dalit slums in Simpata have been affected by landslides that have increased over the past three years due to the road section connecting Martadi in Bajura and Chainpur in Bajhang.

Dil Bahadur Rawat, chairman of the rural municipality, believes that after the road is dug on the poor terrain, the ground becomes loose and landslides occur during the rainy season. He said that the municipality is spending 20/25 lakh every year to remove this landslide. Not only here, but also in the country's construction, repairs, cleaning) and state infrastructure will cost a trip to the ministry under the ministry. Out of the budget of physical infrastructure of physical infrastructure in the current fiscal year, 75 percent of the budget has been all for the backgrounds.