Baglung. The Kaligandaki River, which flows at its own pace, has been exploited by changing its course.

It has been found that the Kaligandaki river is being exploited in the middle of the night during the rainy season and stones and sand are being mined against the standard by changing the course of the Kaligandaki River in winter. The river was diverted to Parbat district at Kalakhola Bagar of Baglung municipality-13.

Although the municipality has leased out the river along with Kalakhola, Bagar, Bhatekhola and Galuwakhola, the river itself has been exploited. It is found that little water flows into the Kaligandaki River at Baglung-10 and Baglung-13 Galuwa and Baglung-13.

Stakeholders said that although Baglung Municipality had given a contract to extract river products during winter, the exploitation of the river was against the standard. The exploitation of Kaligandaki river has caused soil erosion, flood and landslide in both Baglung and Parbat districts, causing damages to human settlements near the river.

Chief of the District Coordination Committee, Amar Bahadur Thapa, said that the monitoring found that the river-based materials were extracted from the river at the Kalakhola Bagar with the help of big equipment.

Mayor Thapa said that instead of 30 per cent human resources, 100 per cent equipment should be used. “Coordination of all is needed to stop the exploitation, now the municipality has collected the revenue, but it has been found that the exploitation has been done against the standards set by the municipality,” the report of the technician states that the river-based materials and illegal river-based materials were found to be exploited against the standard.

Mayor Thapa said, “Action will be taken if the excavation is found in excess of the permission given by the municipality. ”

The monitoring has started by reaching the Kaligandaki river amidst pressure from all sides. Exploitation is rampant in the area around Kalakhola and Galuwa. Although the Baglung Municipality had allowed the extraction of river products from a maximum depth of two meters after conducting environmental impact assessment, it was found that the depth has been increased up to eight meters.