Demolition of Illegal Structures Begins on bank of Gandak Canal and Butwal City

The Narayani Irrigation Management Office has launched a campaign to demolish huts and other structures built illegally along the bank of the Gandak Canal.

The campaign began this morning and targets the stretch from Janaki Tole to Gandak Chowk. According to the Office, preparations are in place to demolish more than 300 structures, including huts, sheds and fish ponds.

The demolition drive is being carried out with the assistance of the Nepal Police, the Armed Police Force and other agencies.

Office Chief Manoj Prasad Patel said they started clearing approximately 26 kilometres of encroached land on the canal bank. Four excavators have been mobilized to raze the structures.

Nepal and India had signed the Gandak Irrigation and Hydropower Project agreement on December 4, 1956. Under the agreement, the Government of India developed an irrigation system by constructing a barrage in the Narayani River. The project aims to provide irrigation facilities to both countries.

The Government of India later handed over the Gandak Canal to Nepal in 1975–76. The canal has a capacity of 850 cusecs of water, intended to irrigate 37,400 hectares of land in the southern parts of Parsa, Bara and Rautahat districts.

Canal water enters Nepal through Janaki Tole, located along the Nepal-India border. Within Nepal, the canal stretches is a total of 81 kilometres and includes nine distribution facilities and 87 other supporting structures. Despite the agreement to irrigate 37,400 hectares of land, the currently irrigated area is only about 28,000 hectares, Patel said.

Authorities began removing huts built illegally in the public space of Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City-4 today.

The structures set up at a public land belonging to High Court, Butwal are being flattened.

After disbanding the office of then Lumbini Zonal Officer, the land it occupied was transferred to the ownership of High Court, Butwal. It is however occupied by huts running tea shops.

Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City informed the illegal dwellers were informed on Saturday evening to remove their chattels so that it would be easier to dismantle the huts.

Chair of ward no 4 in the Sub-Metropolis, Narishwar Sharma Paudel, however, informed RSS that the local government was investigating whether the offices of various organizations including Butwal Bar Association and Office of the Province Chief were also in the encroached land (plot nos 4, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 61). The area of the land is nearly 2 bighs and 5 kattha.

Efforts were made to clear the public land 12 years back, but failed. (RSS)