With his fields located on the banks of the Indrawati River, Danuwar has grown apprehensive about the shrinking water level of the river that is making it increasingly difficult to irrigate his fields. "There's no use of fields without water. The Indrawati river has almost dried up."
The 52 year old farmer said he could no longer cultivate paddy crops in the fields located further up due to the lack of irrigation water. "I have no alternatives other than depending on manual labor these days," he lamented. His livelihood has largely centered on agriculture but the lack of any steps taken to resolve the dwindling water levels means it is unlikely he will be able to farm for much longer.
Danuwar' plight is shared by many in the region. Farmers in Bhimtar, Sangachowk, Phatakshila and Bansbari VDCs in Sindhupalchowk along with Garibisauna, Deupur, Mahadevsthan and Chandeni VDCs in neighbouring Kavre, depend heavily on the Indrawati to irrigate their fields.
Yet, the excessive mining for gravel has lowered the river bed, making it difficult to channel the water to irrigate their fields. This unfettered extraction began nearly one and a half decade ago. Today, there are five "crusher plants" in Sindhupalchowk district and one in Kavre extracting sand and stone from the river bed. This has not only damaged the river's natural beauty but also the ability of farmers to cultivate their fields. Despite existing government guidelines that clearly prevent mining of river aggregates from 200 meters either side of irrigation canals or rivers, there is yet no enforcement of these guidelines.
"The riverbed prior to the mining was higher and it was easier to channel the river water into our farmland. Our farms would get filled with water," stated Danuwar.
Last year, he had to resort to drawing water to irrigate his fields from a water pump at the cost of Rs 250 per hour. However, even this could not stop the decreasing levels of paddy production, Danuwar noted.
Another farmer, Sano Kanchha Danuwar, said that there is not enough water for irrigation because of unregulated extraction of stones and sand from the river bed.
Facing increasing difficulties from the mining, affected farmers had repeatedly complained to the crusher companies to halt their activities. The companies responded by providing water pumps to the villagers last year.
The plight of the farmers has been made worse by the local government's apathy. The farmers allege officials have failed to reign in the excesses of the crusher plants and get them to abide by existing government regulations.
Sano Kanchha said that the owners of the crusher plants had earlier promised to restore the river to its previous levels while preventing floods in the farm land during monsoon. However, they seem to have forgotten their promises as they are only busy in their business, he observed.
The crusher plants operating on the Indrawati River are yet to follow rules and standards set out by the government despite repeated pleas by the local communities. Stakeholders allege that local administration has yet to give clear instructions on how to curb the rampant mining.
Meanwhile, Shambu Phuyal, Vice-President of Mahadevsthan Indrawati Environment Conservation Concern Committee, alleged that both the District Development Commitees and crusher factories are apathetic to the farmers' plight. "Such unabated mining is taking a heavy toll on farmers every year," he added.
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