100 families displaced by the erosion of their land by the Koshi River and embankment have moved to Dalwa, Hanumannagar Kankalini Municipality-14, Saptari. They have been facing floods for six decades and are worried about not getting their land titles for their homes.

Before the Koshi Agreement in 1954 and the construction of the Koshi Barrage in 1962, their homes were 500-600 meters east of where they are now. After the embankment was built on the land taken on lease by the Indian government 60 years ago, they were moved west of the embankment. They are still in trouble as they have not received their land titles. ‘When they were displaced from their land, they were forced to move here in 2020. At that time, no one took the initiative,’ said 75-year-old Sukdev Yadav. ‘I was young.’ We have built a house here, but due to the lack of a land title deed, we have not been able to take a loan from the bank to do business. We are also facing difficulty in getting a loan for our daughter's marriage.''

When the embankment was located to the east of the current embankment, the villagers were also farming on 700 bighas of land. Ramkrishna Yadav of the same place complained that when the embankment was moved to the west, the cultivable land was filled with sand and farming was also disrupted. ''It is becoming difficult for the common people here to carry out their daily lives,'' he said, ''The land title deed is important, if the embankment had also been built in the old place, it would have been easier.'' According to him, 500 common people from the former Rampura Malhaniya VDC-1, 2, 3 and 4, which are west of the embankment, have been carrying out their daily lives in difficult conditions for years.''

More than 400 squatter families living east of the embankment are still in trouble. Every year during the rainy season, due to the fear of floods, they are forced to seek higher ground and live under tarpaulins for a month, but no one has taken the initiative to relocate the settlement, says Ramu Paswan, 65, of Sakhuwa. 'My life has been cut short. I am worried that my children will have to suffer in the same way,' he said. 'Despite our sad situation, no one has paid attention to shifting the settlement to a safer place.' According to Sobit Paswan, 69, of the same place, there are more than 400 squatter families from Sakhuwa to Yoginiya, Sakardahi, and Hanumannagar. These families have been suffering from the Koshi River floods in their homes and courtyards every year from Asar to Bhadau, and ambulances and fire engines are still not able to reach most of the squatter settlements. Saddened by the fact that his parents also passed away as squatters, Paswan says that he is worried that he too will die as squatters.