Mahottari, Feb 1: As the election of the House of Representatives member approaches, election activities have also started in Mahottari-2. In homes and neighbourhoods, voters here have started to express their dissatisfaction more than showing their problems to the candidates and party leaders who have been meeting with the voters in this constituency.
“Our settlement is facing problem of inundation each year because of the river, and during the monsoon, the flooding caused by the swollen river has been putting the settlement and our fields at risk,” said 55-year-old Suresh Sardar from Hatisarva Majra, Bhangaha-6.
He complained that they suffer every year because permanent embankments and levees for river control are not built. Although embankments were constructed in various places in the past to prevent erosion and flooding, the problem has not been addressed.
The citizens here have started making such complaints to the candidates who come to seek votes in the elections. The rampage of the Ratu River flowing through this area has affected residents of seven local levels in the district.
Marani Majhi Musahar from Bhagwatipur, Balwa-11 said that the problem remains the same as the long-term solution has not been implemented. “When the monsoon arrives, we fear whether the house will be swept away by the flood,” said Majhi.
Election activities have increased in the Mahottari-2 electoral constituency as the movement of candidates and party workers has grown.
Communities affected by rivers, including Bighi, Ratu, Marha and Oksi, in this area of the eastern central region of the district, report that their main problems are flooding and water logging in the monsoon and water scarcity in winter.
The Mahottari 2 constituency includes Bhangaha Municipality wards 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 in the central region, Balwa Municipality ward 11, Loharpatti Municipality ward 9 in the mid-eastern region, and Mahottari Rural Municipality ward 6, Aurahi Municipality wards 7, 8 and 9, Pipra ward 6 and Ekdara Rural Municipality ward 6 in the district.
Although the main occupation of the residents here is farming, due to the lack of proper irrigation facilities, the farmers have been dependent on rainfall for cultivation. They also live in constant fear of floods during the rainy season submerging or sweeping away their homes.
“We are always in trouble as there is no irrigation system in fields. We have never been able to properly harvest our food grains in rainy season due to flooding,” said Bhola Mahato, 45, of Mahottari rural municipality-6.
He argued that elections take place time and again but our sufferings remain as it is. The constituency always inundated and encroached during rainy season and faced water crisis in winter season. The people in this constituency sometime time suffer from scarcity of drinking water during winter season.
Ram Sagar Yadav of Loharpatti-1shared that the locals have wished that the government would make arrangement of irrigation facility, seeds and fertilizer on time, agricultural loan on low interest rate, concrete embankment to protect the farmland from flood.
Total 37 candidates including 15 political parties and 22 independent are contesting the March 5 election in the constituency.
Idris Momin, a candidate from CPN (United), said “People’s complaints have increased in lack of activities in a planned manner. The problems should be resolved through shared determination of all.”
Candidates from Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, Nepali Communist Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party, Ujyalo Nepal Party, CPN (UML), Nepali Congress, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Janadesh Party Nepal, Rastra Nirman Dal, Janamat Party, Shram Sanskriti Party, Mongol National Organisation and CPN (United) as well as 22 independent candidates are in the election race in Mahottari-2.
Mahottari-2 has 107,594 voters. Chief District Officer, Indra Dev Yadav, shared that security arrangements have been strengthened in order to hold the election in impartial and fear-free environment.
