Stones and gravel have been extracted illegally from Madibas and Lama rivers under Chaudandigadi Municipality-2 and 4 of Udaipur. Stone and gravel are being mined illegally under the patronage of municipalities and political parties.

Without doing environmental impact assessment, the meeting of Chaudandigarhi Municipal Corporation allowed Sange Choyling Construction Pvt. Ltd. to excavate. More than 70 households in the vicinity are at risk of flooding due to heavy mining of gravel and sand from forest areas including Madi Bas, Lama Khola and Karamje Khola. 

Excavation is now being done from that place to provide 100,000 cubic meters of aggregate to the Chinese company that is building the East-West Highway, going beyond the contract for stone, gravel and sand mining in October of the current financial year. On the 7th of Baisakh, the meeting of the Chaudandigadi Municipal Corporation decided to carry out the excavation, and from the same day, Sange Choyling Construction Pvt. Ltd. started extracting stones and gravel.

Pushparaj Subedi, a local, said that on the same day that the municipality gave permission to extract gravel by taking the revenue of the private population, the excavation was started using 2 excavators in Chaudandigarhi municipality-4 bar water. Locals have been protesting against various laws including stone, gravel and sand mining, sale and management standards 2077 (first amendment 2078) and second amendment 2079, quarry protection procedure prepared by the municipality.

Subedi said that digging up to 5 feet was done using an excavator without taking into account the standard of digging 90 cm. Ailani, the locals complain that the city police have been deployed to excavate against the standards in the forest area . Due to the greed of the internal revenue, mining was allowed against the standards and the locals said that there was a risk of flooding during the rainy season.

According to locals, more than 70 families from 2 and 4 of Chaudandigarhi municipality are at direct risk of flooding during the rainy season due to the random extraction of river materials.

On Friday, journalists who came to collect news about stone and gravel mining were threatened by the contractor not to take photos and videos because the municipality had given permission. According to the locals, 14 thousand 400 cubic meters more ballast was delivered at the rate of 12 cubic meters in 10 wheel tippers using 2 excavators.

Locals have submitted a memorandum to the ward office, municipality and district administration saying that there is a risk of the water source drying up, water not coming to the wells, and flooding in the village during drought due to the illegal excavation being done against the standards. While understanding the memorandum, Chief District Officer Prem Prasad Luintel has given instructions not to excavate stones and gravel from that area for the time being, but locals have complained that they are secretly excavating at night.