By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 29: In Siraha, water level in the Balan River is rising fast, putting dozens of villages located on its western bank at risk of inundation. According to Dilip Yadav, a local of Lahan Municipality–23, incessant rains over the past three days has put the villages including Simraha, Sakhuwa, Portaha, Pariharpur and Tilebona are at risk of flooding.

He also informed that the river, which usually flows south, has begun eroding land on the west, raising fears that it might change its course altogether and head towards the densely populated settlements of Lahan Municipality and Sakhuwanankarkatti Rural Municipality.

Kanhaiya Prasad Gupta, chairman of Lahan–23 and Ramesh Yadav, chairman of Sakhuwanankarkatti–4, asked the concerned government bodies to do something to divert the river south.
“If the river starts flowing west, it will submerge thousands of houses and hundreds of acres of farmland. The devastation will be unimaginable,” they told The Rising Nepal.

“Balan River has been troubling the people of Siraha for decades. We have asked the federal and provincial governments to find a sustainable solution to this issue but they do not care,” complained Muni Sah, mayor of Lahan.