India-Nepal agree on measures to check floods caused by river Kali
India-Nepal agree on measures to check floods caused by river Kali
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, July 14
The district level officers of India and Nepal today agreed to find a solution to the problem of deposition of debris on the banks of river Kali on Nepal side at Dharchula in Pithoragarh district which is one of main causes of flash floods in Khotila village on Indian side where recently two houses were completely damaged in flood waters. River kali forms the international border between India and Nepal in Pithoragarh district.
“The officers from bordering districts of Nepal, namely Darchula and Baitari, today met with Indian officers of Pithoragrh district in the tri-monthly meeting of Indo- Nepal border coordination committee here,” said Reena Joshi, District Magistrate, Pithoragrh.
A joint committee having two members from each country, will find out the effect of deposited debris on the Nepal side near Gasku locality of Dharchula, particularly flash floods and landslides being caused by river Kali during monsoon rains.
“We have requested Nepalese officers to co-operate on constructing security wall on both the banks of the river by exchanging it’s design and planning being adopted by the respective country,” said Reena Joshi, DM, Pithoragarh who chaired the coordination meeting.
Both the delegations have agreed on cooperation in sharing information on acts of smugglings and border patrolling to nab anti- social elements, wanting to cross the border illegally from both the countries.” We have agreed on Nepalese demand that the time of opening of border bridges of Dharchula and Jhoolaghat in Pithoragarh district be extended and agreed to these from 6 am to 7 pm, while former timings were from 7 am to 6 pm,” said the DM.
On demands of Nepalese officers that river Kali is facing pollution due to dumping of garbage r by villages and towns situated on the banks on the Indian side, the Pithoragarh DM said that sanitation campaigns are being run in mass scale inside Indian territory.
The meeting was attended by besides Pithoragarh DM, SP Pithoragarh Lokeswar Singh, Chief Development Officer (CDO) Varun Chaudhari, SDM Dharchula, Devish Shashni, Pithoragarh SDM Anurag Arya from Indian side and Suresh Panthi CDO Baitari, Kiran Joshi CDO Darchula Ganga Datt Pant and Dambar Bahdur Bisht, police officers from Nepalese side.