By Abhinash Chaudhary

Dhangadhi, Aug. 11: At least 55 houses were damaged and 300 houses were inundated in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City after incessant rainfalls of two days.
Three hundred houses in Campus Road, Shiva Nagar, LN Chowk, Park Chowk, Bishal Nagar, Milan Chowk, Chauraha, Uttar Behadi and Chatakpur among other places of the Sub-Metropolitan City have been submerged, informed Kailali District Police Office on Monday.
Due to inconsistency in drainage system of the rain water, the buildings of the Sudurpaschim State Assembly, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law, Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City office and various other governmental offices have been waterlogged.
Hikmat Bahadur Thapa, assistant spokesperson of the District Police Office, said that 10-15 houses had also suffered partial damages due to inundation.
“Although hundreds of houses have been waterlogged, no unfavourable accident has been reported. The water level has started decreasing in many places,” said Thapa.
The settlements in Dhangadhi were submerged due to overflow of flood in the Sukti stream. The floodwater of the Sukti stream had entered Shibanagar, Campus Road, Dhangahi village and Basanta Tole.
Indra Chaudhary, leader of Mukta Kamaiya, said seven houses of Radha Krishna Mukta Kamaiya Settlement in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City--8 and a few houses of Mukta Kamaiya Camp in Ward No. 1, Basanta Tole submerged in the floodwater.
“The affected families have already transferred food supplies, clothes and other essential stuffs to a safer place,” said Chaudhary.
Haphazard establishment of settlements near the rivers and streams have affected the drainage of water in Dhangadhi which has compelled the locals to face water logging problems during monsoon every year.
“Previously, we didn’t use to face the problem of inundation much,” said Jayaraj Joshi, a local of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-8. “As houses were being built adjacent to the river, the river water started overflowing and inundating the houses and roads.”
Big buildings have been made by encroaching various parts of the Sukti and Kailali streams in Dhangadhi Bazaar; thereby causing inundation in the area during monsoon.
Youth Ghanashyam Bhandari, who is active in social work, said that Dhangadhi faced inundation problem every year due to the negligence on the part of the locals and Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City.
“The problem was further triggered by the Sub-Metropolis’s haphazard way of approving house designs near the streams,” he added.
The water logging problem would be solved, to some extent, if the streams are made wider by prohibiting construction of houses near the streams, said Bhandari.
The Sub-Metropolis should strictly implement the laws relating to approval of house designs, he added.