KATHMANDU, Jan 20: After 22 months of signing the contract, the construction of the Siddhababa tunnel connecting Butwal and Palpa has commenced. The 1.126 km long Siddhababa tunnel has been under excavation since last week.

They excavate the rivers, but do not pay any taxes

KATHMANDU, July 1: The Supreme Court (SC) has stayed the government’s decision to amend the standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and sand and their sales.

MYAGDI, June 10: The District Police Office, Myagdi has seized three tractors and an excavator involved in excavating riverine substances.

LAHAN, May 29: Until two decades ago, the muddy water released from the Chure hills increased the fertility of the land and added to the productivity in Tarai.

MUGLING, May 5: The rafting business in the Trishuli River has been poised to the closure as the unregulated excavations and mounting pollution in the river go unabated.

GORKHA, April 23: Haphazard excavation of resources on the banks of the Trishuli, Budi Gandaki, and Daraudi rivers is highly prevalent despite instructions from the local governments of Gorkha to bring such activities to a halt.

KATHMANDU, April 6: The locals of Kirtipur Municipality-6, who dug up a Lichchhavi era idol of the Hindu deity Vishnu along with his consort Laxmi last Saturday, have uncovered more ancient artefacts during further excavations.

DAILEKH, March 27: Excavation of petroleum methane gas is to be initiated from first week of May.  The methane gas excavation is to kick off with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Vice President of China Geological Survey Wangkul and Director General of Department of Mines and Geology Somnath Sapkota in Beijing.

PANCHTHAR, Feb 9On Thursday, an excavator was parked along the Tamor River in Majhitar for the extraction of construction materials. The excavator was digging deep into the river while a tipper and tractor were busy loading and unloading sand and stones. This site falls 500 meters within the suspension bridge.

SINDHULI, Feb 1: Despite numerous complaints by locals against the ongoing rampant mining of sand and stones from the Sunkoshi River in the district, the authorities have taken no action.

TANAHUN, Jan 10: The name of Seti River itself denotes white water. But the milky white water of the renowned river has turned muddy these days thanks to the rampant excavation along the lower belt of the river by crusher plants.

KAPILVASTU, Jan 8: Excavation and exploration have started in ancient Tilaurakot where the Palace of King Suddhodan, father of Gautam Buddha, is located.

RAUTAHAT, Nov 22: Shiva Shankar Crusher Plant of Garuda Municipality-5, Jhanjhpul extracts gravels, stones and sand full of 22 tippers everyday from the Bagmati River at Ramauli Ghat, which actually falls under the jurisdiction of Brindaban Municipality.

KATHMANDU, Oct 26: Government has formed a Monitoring and Coordination Committee in a bid to streamline the excavation of sand, stones, soils and aggregates among others from the rivers and ponds.

RAJBIRAJ, Oct 6: In a bid to stop the rampant excavation in Chure and to save forest resources, the District Forest Office (DFO), Saptari, had banned the extraction of materials in 1km area of the Chure range and the forests there. Despite pressure from the District Development Committee, contractors and various other sectors, the DFO had strictly prohibited the extraction of limestone, stones and other resources from Chure and the adjoining forests. However, stating that the ban imposed by the DFO is illegal, Saptakoshi Municipality of the district has announced to allow extraction of materials from the rivers, which fall within the border of the municipality. This decision has sparked a controversy now.

Locals have claimed that the excavation began after formation of the local government

RAUTAHAT, Feb 22: A squad of Area Police Office (APO), Samanpur on Monday arrested two individuals and seized their excavator while they were illegally excavating stone and gravel from the Bagmati River in Rautahat at midnight.

RAUTAHAT, Feb 21: A squad of Area Police Office (APO), Samanpur on Monday arrested two individuals and seized their excavator while they were illegally excavating gravel from the Bagmati River in Rautahat at midnight.

KAPILVASTU, Jan 11: Excavation has begun again to identify the main part of King Suddhodan's Royal Palace where Gauram Buddha was brought up.

NAWALPARASI, Nov 7: Of late, political parties of Nepal are increasingly providing election tickets to people with criminal background. Along with gangster Deepak Manange, those who have secured tickets for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections also include people who are involved in illegal river excavation activities.

JHAPA, Sept 1: Just three weeks ago, massive floods wreaked havoc in Madhes. Landslides in the hilly districts displaced hundreds of people. Environment experts warned that further destruction of Chure would be disastrous. According to them, ‘unnatural’ flooding and landslides had a direct link with the long ongoing deforestation and excavation the Chure range.

JHAPA, March 16: The locals of Buddhashanti village had never imagined that their lush green fields would one day turn into barren land. The canal which used to be filled with water has now become home for ants. Water used to flow continuously from taps in the past but now locals have to wait for days to get water.

LAHAN, Feb 9: National Reconstruction Authority’s (NRA) to lift ban on excavating construction materials in the Chure forest range to aid in the reconstruction of earthquake affected areas has alarmed conservationists and stakeholders. They have expressed concerns that the step would be exploited to further damage the already fragile Chure ecology.

KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Experts and locals have expressed their serious concerns over the ongoing reconstruction of the Jaisidewal Temple near Kathmandu Durbar Square as a pit dug up in the south-east corner of the foundation of the historic monument has been found filled with materials such as scrap plastic, papers and other trash.

KATHMANDU, Dec 15: A group of experts from the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and Durham University of the UK has been carrying out post-disaster excavation at Jagannath and Gopinath temples in Kathmandu Durbar Square, which were partially damaged by last year's devastating earthquakes.

KAWASOTI, Dec 12: The District Monitoring Committee has taken a decision to slap a fine against Savriddhi Nirman Sewa for illegally dredging materials from the Kerung river at Kawasoti of Nawalparasi district.