By Ramhari Gajurel
Nuwakot, Sept. 6: The entire settlement in Negi of Ghyangfedi, a rural village of Nuwakot, has been at risk after a boulder lying over the village started quivering due to the torrential rains.
Located at the Negi of Dupcheshwor Gaupalika-1, the boulder, known as Palchang Wu, left its place after the massive earthquake hit Nepal in 2015. The locals of Ghyangfedi have been in fear after the boulder started shaking.
If the boulder lying 1,800 meters above the village slips down, it might destroy all 48 houses of the village.
“Our lives are in danger as the massive rock, present in between two big hills since centuries, might fall over us at any time,” said the villagers.
The villagers said that they couldn’t even sleep peacefully during the night due to the fear of being hit by Palchang Wu, which weighs over a 100 tons.
“The shaking boulder has inflicted fear among all of us,” said Minu Tamang, a local. “We have been surrounded by a dangerous cliff on one side and a boulder on the other which may fall onto us at any time.”
It feels like our death is nigh, she added.
Like Tamang, 28 families of Negi village are living in fear of the boulder. Also, 18 houses of Bothang and Kaule settlements, which lie above the boulder, are at risk of being swept away along with the boulder.
The Bothang and Kaule settlements, if swept away, will fall into the Negi village. Three settlements along with 48 households will perish if the Palchang Wu slips.
The Tadi River is also likely to be blocked if the boulder falls off, thereby risking over two dozen settlements downstream including Samundratar, Ramati, Kharanitar, Satbise, Chaughada and Dhikure, among others.
Parliamentarian and former minister Hit Bahadur Tamang, elected from the same area, said, “The boulder used to be a safe place before for sheltering livestock and storing food and grains. But now it is standing before the villagers as a symbol of disaster.”
The casualties and damages that the slipping of Palchang Wu would invite are beyond imagination, said Tamang.
Tamang also said that the government had already taken steps to relocate the settlements in a safer place and provided them with relief.
Jhankanath Dhakal, Chief District Officer of Nuwakot, had sent Santaman Tamang, chief of Nuwakot District Coordination Committee, along with Nepali Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force officials to carry out field inspection of Palchang Wu and the risks it poses.
A meeting of District Crisis Management Committee,

Nuwakot, held after the field inspection, decided to shift the villagers at risk to a safer place.
Villagers being shifted in Tamang’s initiative
The relief materials have been provided to 35 families in Negi Village by the Ministry of Home Affairs through the Nuwakot District Administration Office.
Distributing the relief materials to the villagers, parliamentarian Tamang requested them to shift to the safer place as soon as possible.
The locals said that the relief materials provided to them had created a ray of hope of being safe from the disaster.
Chief of the District Coordination Committee, Santaman Tamang, informed that the District Crisis Management Committee was planning to blast the boulder to prevent the probable casualties.
He also requested other authorities of the State to aid in preventing the mishap.
The geologists and National Reconstruction Authority had declared that the Negi village area was at high risk of landslide since the 2015 earthquake.