Another local Dhana Joshi, who has been living at her relative´s house after the floods displaced residents of the municipality, is now planning to return home. Although she managed to remove sand from inside her house, her courtyard still bears testimony to the disaster. The approaching Dashain festivities are unlikely to bring smile on her face. [break]
The Mahakali flood had displaced the residents of the municipality and destroyed their fields completely. “We erected a tent by removing sand,” Bishne Devi Sunar, a flood victim said. “But we don´t have anything to eat.”
With their houses and fields destroyed and nothing to eat, gloom prevails as more than 60 families are trying to put together their shattered lives.
“I´ve bought two quintals of wheat,” Sushma Sunar, another local said. “The flood destroyed the rice that would have been enough to feed my family for three months. I´ve erected a tent for shelter,” Sunar said. “If I can manage wood and Khar, I´ll rebuild a house within Dashain,” Sunar said.
“Unless a dozer is used, it will take months to clear the sand,” Joshi said, adding, “It would be a huge relief if the government helped us to remove sand from our fields.”
The Mahakali flood has destroyed paddy planted in over 100 bighas of land in Bhimdutta Municipality 11, 12, and 13. The locals won´t be able to cultivate wheat so long as the sand is not removed from the fields.
So far the government has only provided 10 kilos of rice, two kilos of pulse and salt, and one tent per family as a relief. “We´ve not even received our wages for constructing the temporary dam,” Shyam Majhi said. “No one came after the floods abated,” Majhi lamented.
Chief District Officer Buddhi Bahadur Khadka said they´ve provided the victims all the assistance they could. “When we couldn´t, we even sought help from various organizations,” Khadka said, adding, “It´s important that the government release budget for the flood victims.”
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