KANCHANPUR: The Mahakali River’s erosion has put the Kutiyakabar settlement in Dodhara–Chandani Municipality-10 at serious risk.

Located between the Mahakali River to the east and the Jogbudha River to the north, Kutiyakabar borders India to the south. Residents say the Mahakali’s continuous erosion has already swallowed more than two bighas of land.

Despite repeated requests, the government has yet to construct embankments to protect the village, according to local resident Tek Bahadur Sunar. He said many families have already migrated due to flooding and erosion.

“The river has reached the edge of our village,” he said. “Every year, cultivable land is washed away. Now we fear the entire settlement could be taken by the river.”

Kutiyakabar, established in 1965, was once home to 150 families. But as the Mahakali and Jogbudha rivers encroached, 100 families were displaced.

The construction of a suspension bridge over the Jogbudha in 2017 gave locals easier access to the municipality, replacing the earlier compulsion of using boats.

“We have suffered greatly from past floods,” said local resident Khadka Budha. “The 2021 flood swept away cattle, goats, and food grains. This year, embankment construction began on the Jogbudha, but as long as it remains incomplete, erosion continues.”

He added that once densely populated, Kutiyakabar has thinned out as families migrate elsewhere. Dodhara–Chandani Mayor Kishor Limbu said the municipality has built two safe houses to protect residents as the Mahakali continues to erode land.

“We are using gravel to reinforce vulnerable areas,” he said, adding that water-level monitoring devices have been installed on the Mahakali and Jogbudha rivers, with data transmitted directly to the municipality office.

To protect the settlement, the Irrigation and Water Resources Management Project Office had initiated the construction of an 816-meter-long embankment on the Jogbudha. But progress stalled after delays in contract implementation and rising water levels, Limbu said.

The office signed a contract worth Rs 51.67 million with Shankar Construction on April 7, 2025, to complete the embankment by April 7, 2026.

“About 50 bighas of land in the settlement are shrinking every year due to erosion,” Limbu said. “Border pillar No. 22 has been missing for a long time. The Mahakali now flows through where that pillar once stood,” he added.