'Karnali swallows father, son, who risked life just for stacks of fodder'

Achham, April 21: It’s a tale of just three days down the Nepali New Year. 35-year-old Pahal Singh Buda of Turmakhad Rural Municipality-3, Achham, along with his two sons, Dilip and Naresh, went to the Panchapuri area of Surkeht crossing Karnali. All three were crossing the Karnali on a wooden boat just for the grazing fodder. 

Eldest son 14 year old Dilip, helped his father and then his brother to cross Karnali towards the destination in the wooden boat, and he crossed at last. Then, Pahal Singh cast a net in the river and all headed for the work of cutting grass. Dilip loaded three stacks of fodder for their animals in the boat. Till then, the sun was gently setting in the sky. 

Dilip went across Karnali again to fetch his little brother and the head of the family. He proposed to his father to take them on a boat one by one. Seeing the heavy load, on 14 year old father refused and said, "Sun is already down, and you must be tired after continuous to and fro. We can all go together in a boat."

Dilip interfered, but he rested his defiance on the persistence of his father. 

 Alas, the boat overturned in the middle of the river. 11-year-old brother Naresh was pressed under the boat. Swimming tirelessly, Dilip reached the shore and call for help. 

In fatherly love, father saved youngest son by freeing him from under the boat, and tried to swim ashore by carrying the son in his back.  To cruel fate, both father and son got swept away in the high water pressure. Families, locals searched them everywhere but to no avail. 

A joint team comprising the disaster rescue unit of the Armed Police Force Khaptad, a team of divers from Surkhet, locals, and Nepal Police carried out continuous search operations. During the search, the bodies of the son, Naresh, were recovered on April 18, and the father, Pahal Singh, on April 19, from a gorge in the Karnali River.

The whole village is bereaved after the sudden demise of two members of the same family.  

The main occupation of the Pahal Singh family is agriculture. Their daily livelihood is fishing and animal husbandry for they live in the river bank. 

Eldest son Dilip is the eighth grader at the Bashundhara Secondary school Thalpata. Naresh was just in fourth grade.

After the gut-wrenching accident, matriarch of the family, 33-year-old Shanti Kumari Majhi, is still in shock. Now she will not just grief but also has to step in as the main earner of the household as her shoulder to cry on has crossed not just the river but the mortal world. 

Risk of crossing the river in lack of bridge 

There is not even a suspension bridge at this location so far. As a result, locals are forced to risk their lives crossing the river even for daily household activities.

Surrounded by the Karnali River, residents have repeatedly demanded the construction of a suspension bridge, but their voices have gone unheard, complained local Durga Bahadur BC.

He said that since Achham is largely a dry area, people are compelled to travel toward Surkhet to collect grass.

“We have to carry loads of grass across the Karnali River. You never know what might happen at any moment,” he said. (translated from RSS Nepali)