Keeping life afloat rowing bamboos down Saptakoshi River

By Baburam Karki,Barahakshetra, Jan. 2: Saptakoshi River causes great havoc during the monsoon. It is, however, a source of income for many during the winter. 

Every year from October, people in Bhojpur, Dhankuta, Udayapur, Khotang and other hilly districts along the river begin collecting bamboo, tying them into makeshift rafts and rowing them to Sunsari. The bamboo is then sold in the Tarai.

Adip Rai, 32, of Belaka Municipality-6, Udayapur, said that he had been riding such bamboo skiffs for the past 17 years. 

Similarly, Japan Rai, of the same ward, said he has been doing this for 16 years. "It is risky," he said. "We have to stay alert all the time. We may lose our lives but this is the only way to earn a living."

'Bamboo business' has generated employment directly and indirectly to dozens – from individuals chopping the bamboo to rowers making the rafts and taking them down the river, rowers pulling the tied bamboo out of the water, and porters loading them onto trucks. However, those involved in this business can work only for eight months a year when the Saptakoshi is not flooding. 

Several persons The Rising Nepal talked to informed that they earned between Rs. 3,000 to 3,500 for every bundle of bamboo they brought to Sunsari. Each bundle contains about 150 culms of bamboo. 

Raj Karki of Chatara, Sunsari, who has been dealing in bamboo for the past eight years, informed that they could make an annual profit of up to Rs. 500,000. "That’s why we are willing to put our life at risk." He explained that bamboo worth Rs. 5 million was sold at Chatara alone every month. 

Karki further shared that people earn Rs. 5 for every culm they pulled out of the water and porters get Rs. 3,500 for every truck they filled with bamboo. Each truck can transport 850 bamboo culms.

The bamboo thus brought is sold to contractors who, in turn, transport them to markets in Dharan, Biratnagar, Itahari, Palung, Kathamandu, Pokhara and as far as Dadeldhura.