Similarly, Jay Kumar Rokaya too worries that his home will be swept away by the rain as there have been landslides below and above his house. [break]
Situated alongside a road at a height, the road does not even have an embankment to protect him, he worries. Along with Nepali and Rokaya, there are nearly seven dozen households around Khalinga that are worried about the annual monsoon rains. Annually, many villagers are buried in debris and die as a result of the expanded road to the unmanaged market area of Khalinga. Authorities promise to develop a plan for the coming year but in vain, said Balkumar Sharma.
According to Sharma and the locals, Khalinga is utterly vulnerable due to the lack of proper planning while building houses and roads, coupled with massive deforestation. Purano Shajha, New Road of Simalgiri, and settlements in Mathi Thaplo are the most vulnerable areas and possibility of landslides force the residents to make arrangements for a temporary house every year.
Three dozen out of the seven dozen households have been advised to move out to avoid the danger, as per the chairman of Nepal Red Cross Society. They are still living there because they do not have any other place to go. Two years ago, seven people out of which five were from the same family died in a landslide in the area.
Despite expressing their concerns about the possible landslides by the locals, no government effort is visible to protect them.
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