Miscellaneous
Gandak Canal suffers damage worth Rs 700m
The Gandak Canal has suffered infrastructural damage worth nearly Rs 700 million in recent floods, according to the Narayani Irrigation Management Division Office in Birgunj.Shankar Acharya
The Gandak Canal has suffered infrastructural damage worth nearly Rs 700 million in recent floods, according to the Narayani Irrigation Management Division Office in Birgunj.
Engineer Rajendra Prasad Sah of the office said the main canal and its block canals were damaged in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat districts. The service road of the canal was also damaged in 35 places, he added. Floodwaters from the rain-swollen streams, including Oriya, Sikta, Gangol, Bangari and Lalbakaiya, caused a massive damage to the canal infrastructures.
Around 500,000 people in Parsa, Bara and Rautahat have been affected after the floodwaters damaged the service road.
Most of all, it is the farmers in Parsa and Bara who have suffered the most from the recent floods. They could not irrigate around 28,000 hectares of rice fields, which could directly hit this year’s rice output.
Agricultural experts have predicted that the country’s GDP could suffer a loss of around Rs 2.5 billion owing to the shortfall in rice production this year.
Suresh Prasad Sah, information officer of the office, said the damaged sections of the canal and the service road could be repaired within two months, but they lacked the necessary equipment and resources.