Nepal, India to tackle flooding issues

Senior Nepali and Indian officials have agreed to work on controlling the perennial flooding caused by rivers originating from Nepal, and agreed to build embankments.

The decision was taken at the 11th meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Committee on Inundation and Flood Management (JCIFM) held in Janakpur and Kathmandu from April 16-21. The meeting was followed by visits to the Kamala, Bagmati and Lal Bakaiya rivers, the Kathmandu Post reported.

According to the decision, both sides have agreed to build embankments at Basbitta, Bandipur and Kirathpur area to tame flooding caused by the Kamala river and on the left bank of Bagmati river and Laxminiya on the Lal Bakayariver.

A.K. Sinha, member (planning) of the Ganga Flood Control Commission was leading the Indian team, while Nepal was led by Madhukar Prasad Rajbhandari, director general of the Department of Water-Induced Disaster Management.

The talks that were held in Kathmandu discussed the mechanism for proper coordination at field level and draft of Terms of Reference for concurrent evaluation of the ongoing inundation and flood management projects.

--IANS

akansha/rn