Dispute between local levels halts water project for three years in Baitadi

By Gokarna Dayal,Baitadi, Dec. 16: A dispute between two local levels in Baitadi over a water source has deprived the villagers of drinking water facilities.

A drinking water project has been stalled for the past three years following a dispute between Dogdakedar Rural Municipality and Sunarya Rural Municipality.

“Budget has been allocated for a drinking water project regularly for the past three fiscal years by the provincial government. However, the dispute has prevented the project from making any headway,” said Krishna Bahadur Bokati, chief at Baitadi’s Water Supply and Sanitation Office.

“The water source is at Dharmaghar, an area in Ward No. 3 of Sunarya. A budget of Rs. 7 million was allocated to construct a drinking water project there for 70 local houses at Goyali village in the fiscal year 2019/20,” said Bokati.

Likewise, Rs. 3 million was allocated in 2020/21 and Rs. 500,000 in the current fiscal year 2021/22.

The budget gets frozen every time since the dispute has not allowed the project to move forward.

According to the office, they have requested the provincial government for necessary directives since the dispute has not been solved despite holding regular meetings between the two local levels’ representatives in the coordination with the district’s coordination committee.

After the request, Sudurpashchim Province Minister for Physical Infrastructure Dirgha Sodari had also inspected the site.

The water source in Dharmaghar of Sunarya has been used by locals of Ward No. 3 and 7 of Dogdakedar. When Sunarya tried to utilise the source for themselves, a dispute erupted and has been continuing for couple of years.

“When we tried to use the water source in our territory for our people after shortage of drinking water, we have been prevented,” said Dilaram Bhatta, a local and former ward chairman of Sunarya’s Ward No. 3.

As per the project forwarded from the Provincial Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, the ministry has been allocating budget regularly to construct the drinking water project that would pump 60,000 litres of water from the source to Ward No. 3 of Sunarya daily.

“If Sunarya was to construct a drinking water project there, it would prevent water from flowing into 800 taps of Dogdakedar. The source has been used by locals of wards 3, 4 and 7 since 1978,” said Charka Karki, chairman of Dogdakedar Rural Municipality.

“We have been in a dispute over this issue because we have no other option of drinking water,” said Karki.

As per Dogdakedar Rural Municipality, a drinking water project in Dharmaghar would affect current drinking water projects – Kamedapani Drinking Water Project, Shreekot-Deulek Project, Talar-Rauldeu Sillegada-Lekthala Campus Project, and Rikhali Project.

However, Sunarya has been demanding to be allowed to utilize the resource in their area. As per the Baitadi office of water supply, the four drinking water projects have also been taking drinking water to Dogdakedar from four sources within the territory of Sunarya.