Beni bazaar located near the confluence of Kaligandaki and Myagdi rivers has been afflicted by frequent floods and landslides in the past too. Even the government, in the recently announced budget, had allocated separate fund for the construction of preventive measures to mitigate the high risk of floods and landslides in the area.

According to the District Natural Disaster Relief Committee, approximately 100 houses stand prone to immediate risk of floods, while 27 VDCs, including Beni bazaar located along the banks of Kaligandaki, stand prone to damage and destruction from landslides.

“Whenever the sky turns dark and lightening strikes, we loose our sleep,” said Sudarshan Kumar Shrestha, coordinator of the Beni Civil Society who happens to be a resident in the area most affected by erosion. “As there are no flood indicators installed in the Kaligandaki river, we have been compelled to live in constant fear,” Shrestha said.     Meanwhile, ‘Beni Bachau’ (protect Beni) campaign launched in 1998 has not been able to do much as the construction of gabion walls covering only a kilometre of Myagdi and Kaligandaki rivers has been complete. Presently, work on the construction of gabion walls 3 kms from the confluence of the rivers on both sides is underway. The campaign had gained momentum after the Department of Water-induced Disaster Prevention allocated Rs 9 million, excluding other contingencies for the protection of Beni.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the campaign, Hari Krishna Shrestha said they were also contemplating the construction of a ring road along with river control mechanism, as the roads in the bazaar area were narrow.

According to civil society leaders, the floods in Myagdi river in 1957 and 1964 had ravaged western Mangalaghat area of Beni. Likewise, the landslides in Sarjeni in 1981 had damaged most settlements and agricultural land in Beni. Similarly, 108 lives were lost during the landslide on the fateful night of Sept 19, 1988 at Darbang bazaar, the second largest commercial centre of the district, while 12 hotels, 25 residential houses, schools, health post, and police post were flooded when the landslide at Aldhagalchi in Sept 26, 1997 blocked the Kaligandaki river for ten hours.