Pyure landslide keeps locals in terror

By Prem Adhikari  Pashupatinagar, July 8: Every time when it starts raining, Tank Basnet of Pyure in Rong Rural Municiplaity-4 gets panicked. The locals in Pyure get terrified in monsoon because of the recurring landslip.

Basnet says, "The land has been washed away. We are struggling to save people from the natural calamities." 

Many people like Basnet are especially at risk of landslides when the rainy season starts.

The landslide that has been falling for years has made life of many families miserable. The landslide has so far washed away hundreds of ropanis of land in the area.

The families of Tank, Nar Bahadur Basnet, Tek Bahadur Pithakote, Indra Bahadur Pithakote, Bhim Bahadur Magar, Bal Bahadur Magar, Hastakumari Magar, Bhuvan Kumar Basnet, Sant Bahadur Lapcha, Yam Prasad Magar, Mankumari Lapcha, Kaushila Khadka, and Khadga Bahadur Rai have already been displaced.

Displacement of people is on the rise due to the landslide. This time, the landslide has displaced more families than ever. The Rong Rural Municipality is looking for alternatives to control landslides as the calamity increases the number of displacement every year.

Rural Municipality Chairman Mani Kumar Syangbo informed that they are urging the federal government and the provincial government to find out alternatives to control the landslide. He said, "The landslide cannot be controlled by the municipality alone. The federal government should step in."

A technical team including the chairperson Sangbo and vice-chairperson Bishnumaya Bhujel has conducted an on-site study of the landslide-affected area to find out solutions. 

It is stated that a team including technicians of the federal government has studied the landslide and started efforts to work on controlling the landslide from the top level of the government body.

The rural municipality has planned to manage the land in different places for the people who lost their land to landslides as they do not have land elsewhere.

In the current fiscal year, the Rong Rural Municipality had provided financial assistance to 13 families at the rate of Rs. 100,000 each for the management as compensation.

The families were displaced after a landslide swept away the village in 2015. Altogether 500 ropanis of land belonging to 13 families have been washed away by the landslide. 

A few years ago, a team from the Department of Geology excavated a copper mine in the area. 

According to the locals, the landslide started after the soil and stones of the area were excavated and taken away. 

All the land fenced by the department on suspicion of copper mining has now turned into a mudslide zone.