A few days back, Bangladeshi newspapers reported that a person died when the team he admired lost the World Cup football matches in Germany. Fortunately, late night World cup matches, on the other hand, saved lives of dozens of people in Kathmandu on Saturday night when the holy river Bagmati grew furious with daunting rain.

Residents of the Pashupati area were thankful to Lord Pashupati and the World Cup for saving their lives. But they are still furious towards what they call “gross negligence” of the PADT officials.

Football lovers, who were glued to their TV sets, alerted their neighbours as soon as they noticed flood entering into their bed rooms. They called the officials of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and police for emergency services during the night. Furious local residents said they repeatedly called PADT officials to open the gates of the dam on Bagmati river so that houses built on the bank could be saved from being washed away. They said there was no immediate response to their SOS call.

The dam is constructed some 200 m down the temple of Pashupatinath to collect water for cremation purposes. Gates remained closed for quite some time now. On Saturday, local residents had asked the PADT officials to open the doors of all gates fearing possible flood.

Helping hands: Nepal Army personnel helping to control flooding in the Bagmati River at the Pashupati area in Kathmandu. The flooding destroyed more than 6 houses on the banks of the river early morning, Sunday, July 02 06. nepalnews.com/ANA

The downpour in Shivapuri, Mulpani, Sankhu and Sundarijal unexpectedly increased the volume of water in the river that night. According to police, houses of Sumitra Kafle, Gangadhar Gautam, Chiranjibi Satyal, Hirakaji Shrestha and Sharada Gautam were swept away by the swollen waters. Four other houses were badly damaged. The surging river swept away shops as well.

Angry local residents took to the street on Sunday chanting slogans against the PADT and demanding compensation. Transportation between Tinkune and Chabahil are come to standstill for whole day on Sunday. PADT office remained closed. Chief District Officer (CDO) of Kathmandu, Sthaneshor Devkota, reached Pashupati area for negotiation on Sunday afternoon when the enraged people threatened to set ablaze the PADT office.

In the negotiations that followed CDO agreed to conduct probe into the incident, take necessary action against the officials responsible for the loss and provide relief support to the displaced people. For immediate purpose, all the 57 families displaced from the area were given shelter at the Pashupati Bankali dharmashala. The government also agreed to provide compensation for the loss of the properties.

Residents of the Pashupati area were thankful to Lord Pashupati and the World Cup for saving their lives. But they are still furious towards what they call “gross negligence” of the PADT officials and nepalnews.com