Regil, the blessed village in Kalikot

By Prem Raj Simkhada,Kalikot, Dec. 16: Located near Manma, the district headquarters of Kalikot,  Regil Village is said to be uniquely gifted by nature because it has thus far remained safe from big disasters.

The village is seated among the rocky hills which seldom give way to landslides. Neither monstrous rains nor earthquakes have been able to knock boulders loose and send them hurdling towards the settlement, residents proudly said. Diseases have also not been able to enter Regil, boasted local social activist Surya Bahadur Shahi. 

"Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, only one family here contracted the coronavirus due to a person who came from outside," he said, adding, "But the villagers prevented it from spreading to anyone else by taking proper precautions."

"Everyone also decided that they would neither go outside nor let outsiders come in. Regil was spared the horror that the virus wreaked in other parts of the country," Shahi said.

Regil's topography also kept it safe during the decade-long 'People's War.' The rebelling Maoists never entered because it was near the district headquarters and they feared that the government forces would be hiding in the hills above the village. The then Royal Nepali Army always patrolled the areas near the river but did not come up to Regil because they were worried about the Maoists sneaking up from the cliffs and ambushing them. 

Local Dhir Bahadur Shahi believed that Regil was the only village in all of Kalikot that remained untouched from the armed conflict.

Devraj Bharati, chairman of Khandachakra Municipality's Ward No. 11, said that the army was also kept at bay because of the massive Karnali River. "They often lacked the means to cross the river," he said. The Maoists had destroyed the only bridge to the village, making it difficult for soldiers to come. But this kept the Maoists out as well, as the insurgents also feared swimming across the dangerous and unpredictable Karnali.

Ujjwal Shahi, computer operator at the District Administration Office of Kalikot, lives in a village some distance away from Regil. He also said that the village was blessed by nature.