Indigenous people like Raji Sonaha and Badi residing on the embankment area of Karnali River have urged the province and local government to stop extraction of riverbed aggregates from Karnali River.
The people of tribal communities, who are making their living from the river, have said that their traditional profession is going extinct due to the exploitation of river aggregates.
The local government has been promoting the extraction of sand, stone and gravel. But the locals have complaining that the government has not been able to preserve their traditional profession of fishing and stone refining.
They said so during a round table conference organised by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) in Chisapani to mark the 3rd National River Summit.
Speaking at the round table conference organised at Chisapani of Kailali under the Paani Project being operated with the assistance of USAID, Ghumlal Sonaha of Geruwa Rural Municipality-2 said, “Fish needs large stones in the river for survival. But, the government has stopped the indigenous communities like us from fishing instead of stopping the extraction of riverbed materials.”
Saying that his traditional profession is fishing and gold mining, Sonaha said that the local government has not been inquiring those involved in extracting riverbed materials instead it has been inquiring the people of indigenous communities who rely on fishing and gold mining.
Dhiren Bahadur Badi of Aathbis Municipality-1, Dailekh questioned why the local government has stopped people living on the bank of river from fishing? He said the local government should provide security to them instead of stopping them from fishing in the river.
Nain Singh Raji of Surkhet said the situation of Raji community which has been living on the bank of river for the past hundreds of years is getting pathetic. “Our settlement, culture and profession are gradually vanishing. Rajis are becoming landless,” he said.
Similarly, Bharat Bista of Tikapur questioned why the government has not formulated an environment policy to stop the people from throwing garbage in the river?
Nepal River Conservation Trust (NRCT) Chairman Megh Ale questioned how the country will be prosperous either by generating the electricity from the river or extracting the riverbed materials.
Deepal Gyawali, an official at the Forest Office in Palamanpur, said the mining of riverbed materials is going unchecked at an alarming rate as the local level has awarded the contract to the people to extract stones, gravels and sand from the river.
“The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report has been prepared illegally so far. Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report was prepared by sitting on the table,” he said, adding, “Rampant extraction has been going on in Chure region. No Initial Environmental Examination report has been prepared.”
Surya Bahadur Thapa, Chief at the District Coordination Committee, Kailali, said the extraction of riverbed materials should be stopped.
Shankar Prasad Tharu, Chief at the District Coordination Committee, Bardiya, said Geruwa River has not even a single drop of water. “Extraction of materials from the river is going on across the river. Hundreds of excavators are being operated in the rivers,” he said.
Minister for Law and Internal Affairs of Sudurpaschim Province Prakash Bahadur Shah said that Sudurpachim, Karnali and Province 5 should use Karnali River for public benefit.
“People want to become rich by destroying the natural resources,” he said, adding, “Nepalis are not the one who destroys nature and environment.” There is a trend that some are busy in extraction the riverbed materials and some are conserving the riverbed materials, he said.
Refuting the involvement of Nepalis in polluting the environment, he said the problem has surfaced as the government has not given proper attention to the conserve the environment.
Minister Shah said a strict law for the conservation of biodiversity will be brought and implemented soon.
Harka Bahadur Kunwar, Chairman at the Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee of Sudurpaschim Province, said that Environment Act has already been endorsed from the Parliament. He said that environment will be conserved only if the water sources are kept clean.
Bijay Bahadur Yadav, Chairman at the Agriculture, Forest and Environment Committee of Province 5, said that the Initial Environmental Examination should be implemented in an effective way.
He said the riverbed materials are being extracted in the local level of all the three provinces.
“A master plan should be made in coordination with all the three provinces to conserve Karnali River,” he said.
Under Secretary at the Water and Energy Commission Dinkar Khanal said the master plan should be made in coordination with Sudurpachim and Karnali Provinces, Province 5, local levels and people.
Province Assembly lawmaker Chun Kumari Chaudhary said that the river and forest should be conserved to control the river related natural disasters.
General Secretary at the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists Nimesh Regmi said that Karnali River is rich in biodiversity as the river is the habitat of dolphin, gharial and Magar crocodile.
“Out of seven native fishes, three kinds of species are found in Rara Lake and Rara Lake, which is enlisted in the Ramsar list; Phoksundo Lake and Ghodaghodi Lake, among other various wet lands, lie in this water shed,” he said.
“Many development concepts are also connected to the river. Upper Karnali Hydroelectric Project, Tila First, Tila Third, Nalasinghgad, West Seti and Chisapani among other projects are very important for Bright. Apart from that, Bheri Babai Diversion, Rani Jamara, Rajapur and Karnali Marga are expected to increase greenery,” Regmi said.
The extraction of riverbed materials from Karnali River is a big issue of the recent time, he said. “Karnali River has water but many villagers are reeling under acute shortage of water. Women are facing a tough time to fetch water. We have a lot of forest resources and the woods are decaying in the forest,” he said.
