Monsoon Misery: Forgotten Victims of the Nallu River Flood

Nepal Views

Kathmandu: The monsoon system is currently active across the country. With the onset of the monsoon, Nepal has once again been facing various natural disasters such as floods and landslides. Hearing news of hundreds of people losing their lives due to such calamities every year is, unfortunately, not new or surprising.

According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, this year is expected to receive more rainfall than last year. The continuous rainfall on Asoj 11 and 12 (late September) caused massive destruction in the Kathmandu Valley and other parts of the country. That disaster had barely settled before monsoon-related calamities began again.

Residents of Dhunge, Jure Danda, Nayabasti, Gairigaun, and Tusal villages in Ward No. 6 of Godavari Municipality, Lalitpur, say they can’t sleep peacefully at night after hearing such news on the media.

Last year, the flood in the Nallu River turned Dhunge village into a riverbed, while several houses in Gairigaun and Tusal were swept away. But neither the local nor the federal government paid any real attention. Some NGOs provided zinc sheets and basic relief items like rice and lentils, but locals complained that the ward office and municipality did nothing substantial.

Cries of flood-victims from Bhumidanda: No water to drink, No food to eat! (Photo Feature)

Nita Nagarkoti recalls the devastation caused by last year’s flood while standing in the yard of her temporary shelter, gazing toward Dhunge. Her two-storey home and shop were completely swept away, and she couldn’t save anything. With her shop gone, she now works collecting stones for a crusher plant operating in the area. She built a temporary shelter with materials provided by an NGO, on land that doesn’t belong to her. She expressed frustration, saying the municipality only offers false promises without taking any action.

Locals say unregulated excavation and crusher industries operating in the region for decades, along with unplanned road construction (especially toward Konjyosom Rural Municipality) without proper assessments, triggered the flood in the Nallu River.

The flood was so severe that it altered the course of the Nallu River, washing away the home of Thuli Nagarkoti as well. Now homeless, she’s built a temporary shelter in Sikharpa village on rented land, but is struggling to pay the rent. Although the municipality had promised to pay rent for 10 years, it hasn’t kept that promise, she said. Having lost her husband, Thuli now works as a daily wage laborer at the same crusher plant.

Nita and Thuli are just representative cases. The flood displaced several families in Gairigaun and Tusal, sweeping away many homes and leaving people without shelter.

Locals have requested the authorities to install gabion walls and return the river to its original path, but the ward office has refused to help. When locals were told that installing such barriers without proper standards isn’t permitted, their anxiety grew. “We can’t sleep thinking the river might flood again and wash away what little we have left,” said resident Rajkumar Nagarkoti. He used to run a buffalo farm in Dhunge, but the flood swept away five of his buffalo.

The flood also severely damaged the Tikabhairav area, leaving the Tikabhairav temple in a dilapidated state and washing away much farmland.

Although the Nepal government and its various agencies often announce plans for disaster mitigation and relief, victims frequently report not receiving real support. The fact that even an area so close to the federal capital remains neglected feels to its residents as though the government doesn’t exist at all.