POST REPORT

KATHMANDU, Nov 13 - Representatives from a local organisation Gandak River Control Struggle Committee from Nawalparasi district have threatened to launch protests if the locals are not compensated for the loss incurred due to inundation in 13 VDCs in the district last monsoon.

Representatives from the government of Nepal, as well as from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and local representatives had reached an agreement on June 26 to compensate local farmers for the inundation caused due to the Indian-built Gandak canal in Nawalparasi. The agreement was reached following a 34-day-long sit-in protests round the clock at the canal site since May 24.

Locals criticised the governments from both the countries for not implementing the agreements in practice. It was decided that next Nepal-India border district coordination committee shall meet in the last week of October to review the progress, the agreement read. But, it has not taken place, according to Prem Chandra Gupta, secretary of the committee, said at an interaction held here on Thursday.

He lambasted the government of Nepal for not forwarding the report on loss assessment of the affected areas to the government of India. The locals had submitted the report to the district authorities in September, according to Gupta. The Indian authorities had committed to provide compensation to the Nepali farmers after the Nepal government sends the report to the concerned Indian authorities.

The report was expected to be sent prior to the Nepal-India joint talks on water resources supposed to take place in November. Bijay Mishra, senior divisional engineer from the Department of Irrigation, said that officials from the two governments were regularly working on the matter. ''Indian officials have promised to start necessary work at the canal site within this fiscal year,'' Mishra said.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, representatives from the struggle committee, Water and Energy Users' Federation-Nepal (WAFED), and CPN-UML CA member DB Karki submitted a memorandum to the Minister for Water Resources Bishnu Poudel pushing the ministry to taken concrete initiatives in regard to implementing the agreement. They strongly requested the ministry to forward the loss assessment report to the government of India.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, 14 November 2008