SURKHET, Oct 28: More than a decade after floods swept away their homes along the Bheri River, displaced families in Surkhet are facing the prospect of losing their shelter once again, as forest authorities prepare to clear the land where they have rebuilt their lives.
At Palbazar in Panchapuri Municipality-5, what was once open land in Kalika Community Forest has developed into a settlement of houses, shops and paved roads. The settlement emerged after the August 2014 floods swept away Tikhakuna, a riverside settlement, forcing dozens of families to seek shelter in the forest.
Among them is Bhim Bahadur Shahi, who moved his shop from Babiyachaur, a major market in western Surkhet, to Palbazar. He is one of 93 families that began living on 41 ropanis of community forest land after political parties agreed to let them settle there.
Each family received a plot measuring seven metres by 15 metres free of charge. Although Shahi received Rs 500,000 from the government to rebuild his house in Tikhakuna, he has not returned to his ancestral settlement, where he owns four ropanis of land.
"There is a fear that another flood could sweep away a house built at the same place in Tikhakuna," he said. "That is why we have not left the community forest area."
The families, who initially lived under tarpaulin tents, have since built permanent structures. They are now demanding land ownership certificates for the plots where they have lived for years.
"Although we own land in Tikhakuna, it is impossible to live there because it is along the riverbank," said another flood survivor, Ganesh Bahadur Shahi. "The state should provide us permanent land ownership certificates for the forest area where political parties agreed to let us settle."
The government had provided each affected family Rs 500,000 on the condition that they purchase land elsewhere or rebuild their homes at their original locations.
Three years on, flood victims still await relief
The floods of August 13 and 14, 2014, displaced 120 families from Tikhakuna and Murmuri. At the time, the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Unified CPN (Maoist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janamukti Party and CPN-Maoist, among other political parties, agreed to allow 93 families to settle on 41 ropanis of Kalika Community Forest land.
For Pooja Gandarma, a flood survivor from the then Hariharpur-4, now Barahatal Rural Municipality-2, the past 12 years have been marked by hardship. After the disaster destroyed her home, her husband returned from Qatar. A few days later, he died by suicide near their flood-damaged home.
Pooja and 118 other families displaced from Hariharpur now live along the Girighat stream beside the Karnali Highway. She said the government assistance of Rs 500,000 was barely enough to repay debts and cover basic food expenses.
"We hear that we will now be evicted from the forest area," she said. "The flood swept away our homes, so we came to the forest. Where will we go if the government removes us from here as well?"
Pooja breaks stones into gravel in the nearby Girighat stream to make a living. As the displaced families have been unable to leave the forest area, the rural municipality spent Rs 3 million last year to build a primary school there.
"The state has invested so much in building a school, and our children study here up to Grade 5. We survive by breaking stones and selling firewood," said Narendra Khatri, another displaced resident. "Returning to our original settlements is not a viable option for us."
Khatri also demanded permanent land ownership certificates for the land where the families currently live.
"Why should we be kept in fear all the time?" he said. "We would feel secure if we were given land ownership certificates for the places where we are living now."
The 2014 floods killed 24 people and left 91 missing. The government later declared those missing dead and provided their families with funeral expenses and some relief. A total of 970 families living along the Bheri River were displaced.
On April 8, 2019, the Karnali Province Cabinet formed an 11-member task force led by then Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Naresh Bhandari to oversee the rehabilitation of flood-displaced families.
The task force identified 1,045 flood-affected families across Surkhet. Of them, 591 have returned to their original settlements, while 454 remain displaced, according to its report.
The families who have rebuilt their homes and returned include 254 in Birendranagar, 12 in Lekbeshi, 46 in Barahatal, 160 in Bheriganga, 32 in Gurbhakot, 84 in Panchapuri and three in Chaukune.
The Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers said the provincial government has spent Rs 189.1 million on flood victims so far.
However, rehabilitation efforts have stalled since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Planning, which handled disaster management, was merged into the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers.
Surendra Shahi, undersecretary at the office's Peace and Security and Disaster Management Division, said flood victims who owned land had been rehabilitated.
"Those who could not afford to purchase land and build houses remain in displaced settlements," he said. "We made considerable efforts to rehabilitate them through the last fiscal year, but the problem persists because they have refused to return to their original settlements."
Meanwhile, Mun Bahadur Rawat, chief of the Division Forest Office, Bheri, said authorities had verbally informed the flood survivors that they would have to vacate the forest land. The office is also collecting data on those who have already received government relief.
"Although the victims were allowed to stay in the forest during the immediate aftermath of the disaster, they are expected to leave once they receive government relief," Rawat said. "We are preparing to publish a notice after compiling the details of those who received assistance."
Rawat said flood survivors were occupying forest land in Girighat, Tikhakuna and other areas. The office is preparing to post notices following a meeting of the Forest Protection Committee.
"Receiving government relief and continuing to encroach on forest land cannot go together," he said.
