Gorakhpur: Dozen houses swept away in Rapti river

Gorakhpur: Dozen houses swept away in Rapti river

A dozen houses were swept away in the Rapti river here following soil erosion caused by a flood, an official said on Thursday.

No loss of life and injury was reported in the incident that took place on Wednesday in Badhalganj block's Jagdishpur village. The administration is on the job to rehabilitate those displaced and District Magistrate Vijay Kiran Anand has instructed Gola SDM Rajendra Bahadur to speed up the work. Most houses in Jagdishpur village have been hit by erosion caused by the river and 12 of these were swept away on Wednesday, the SDM said, adding that arrangement has been made at Gaighat village for the rehabilitation of those displaced. Before 1998 there were 150 houses in Jagdishpur but due to yearly floods and erosion, only 30-35 were left in the village till this year, local resident Ajay Panday (70) told reporters. “Till 1980, it was like any other village thriving with life. But over a passage of time, houses, fields and other structures started getting destroyed one after the,'' he said.

''Due to the 1998 floods many people like me migrated from the village. I started living in Gorakhpur after purchasing a house there but I remained in contact with my fellow villagers and it is no less than a shock that the entire village is on its way to become a memory,” he said.

The house belonging to one Sanjay Pandey was among those swept away in the river on Wednesday. His son Manish Pandey, a Class 11 student, said, “We lost our house in front of our eyes and now we are living on the road under a plastic shade.” Houses of Ramesh Pandey, Bandhu Yadav, Rammouj Pandey, Dhruv Chand Vishwakarma, Sangam Gaur, Munna Vishwakarma, Munna Pandey, Sadaphal Yadav, Pawan Yadav and Baburam Yadav were destroyed, Manish said. Speaking about the problem, BSP MLA Vinay Shakar Tripathi said the situation is a result of continued carelessness of the administration. “No house is left in Jagdishpur village. An embankment is urgently required as many villages of the area are in danger,” Tripathi stressed. BJP leader and former area MLA Rajesh Tripathi said, “Four days ago, CM Yogi Adityanath surveyed the area and asked for a proposal for the construction of a 5-km embankment to save villages from river erosion and floods.” A proposal is being prepared and the DM has told me that the victims will be rehabilitated in a colony at Gaighat under a housing scheme, he said.

Source: Dev Discourse