The people of Beni Bazaar, the district headquarters of Myagdi, live under threat of possible floods and landslides every monsoon.

Beni lies between Myagdi and Kaligandaki rivers. Every year, embankments are built to control river erosion, but they are not strong enough to last a season.

Bal Krishna Subedi, a local man, said families living near the Kaligandaki river are constantly beset by the fear of flood during the rainy season.

“The risk increases every year due to continuous river bank erosion,” he said.

The Kaligandaki river started eroding its banks in Beni Bazaar area some 32 years ago. In these years, the authorities concerned have done precious little to protect the town from flood and erosion risks.

Hari Krishna Shrestha of Beni Bachau Abhiyan, a local initiative to prevent Beni Bazaar from water-induced disasters, said whatever effort that has been put so far to stop the Kaligandaki river from breaching its banks has only been temporary.

“Every monsoon, the rain-swollen river sweeps away the gabion boxes that we place on the river bank to prevent erosion. It’s the same story next year, we apply the preventive measures and the river dismantle it, because the authorities concerned are not ready to spend enough to build a proper embankment strong enough to withstand the floodwaters,” Shrestha said.

The Water Induced Disaster and River Control Sub Division Office for the past 21 years has been allocating budget only enough to build temporary embankments. The office has not thought about a permanent solution to the erosion risk in the area.

At present, an embankment is being constructed in around 500-metre section of the Kaligandaki river bank.

Bhupendra Bahadur Thapa, a lawmaker of Myagdi, said that the construction of embankments in Kaligandaki takes place every year, but they never last. “The authorities concerned should investigate why this is happening,” he said.

Last year, an embankment along the Kaligandaki river, built at a cost of Rs 60 million six years ago, was swept away by floodwaters.

Bal Krishna Subedi, a resident of Beni Bazaar, said he was not surprised when the embankment gave way.

“The embankments are poorly built and do not have the capacity to contain the floodwaters,” said Subedi. “The authorities concerned should take action against the technicians and contractors involved in building these weak embankments.”