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Their faces look exhausted from hunger, thirst and lack of sleep. Blisters have formed on their soles, and they can barely stand. Yet a group of ordinary citizens has walked all the way to Kathmandu for 25 days from Madhes, carrying empty buckets on their heads.

Battling the rains, spending nights on the streets and struggling against, 25 people from Madhes have come to Kathmandu to draw the attention of the authorities toward the drying up of water sources due to exploitation of Chure. At the call of Nepal River and Forest Conservation Campaign these people began their march from Bhardaha in Saptari through Bardibas of Mahottari, Hetauda, and Narayanghat to Kathmandu to draw the government’s attention for ending Chure exploitation.

There have even been instances where those protesting against Chure exploitation were attacked and killed by unscrupulous people exploiting natural resources. Four years ago, river activist Dilip (Omprakash) Mahato was murdered by people unlawfully extracting sand. Due to such incidents, many people are afraid to protest. The victims say people operating crusher plants threaten dissenters that they will also meet the fate of Dilip Kumar.

‘No water to quench our thirst’

Sangita Devi Sada’s home in Matiarwa in Lahan Municipality-2, Siraha, is at the foot of the Chure hills. Her family of six sustains itself on daily wages. A few greedy people are extracting river materials, causing the entire village to suffer the consequences, she shared. “The crusher operators are mining the rivers dry. First, the rivers dried up. Then the water vanished from our ponds,” Sangita said. “Now there isn’t even enough water in the village to quench our thirst. Without water, how can we grow crops?”

Until two decades ago, the rivers and streams in Sangita’s village would flow year round. But for the last two years, as soon as the dry season arrives, they struggle even for drinking water. 

“These unscrupulous people have turned the hills, rivers and streams into barren land through excessive extraction,” she lamented. “First, the ponds dried up. The springs went dry next, and water levels in wells depleted. Now, the river itself has dried up.”

Should people go in search of water to quench their thirst or seek employment to satisfy their hunger? This dilemma has entrapped the disadvantaged and marginalized families of Sangita and others like them. Not just her, but 6.12m people in the Madhes province are suffering from problems arising due to the exploitation of Chure. “As the local government, police, administration and leaders all seem to be siding with the Chure exploiters, people like Sangita from Madhes have come to Kathmandu to plead with the central government,” said Sunil Yadav, chairperson of the campaign.

This is the first time that Sangita has undertaken such an arduous journey in her life. On reaching the Maitighar Mandala last week, she shared her near-death experience. “Our ancestors never had to undertake such a huge march of suffering just for water. I cannot imagine what lies in store for the coming generations,” she said. “My feet are covered in blisters. I can barely walk. Whom do I share this suffering with? Who will listen to us?”

Even the Kamala River is drying up

The government has launched a national pride program for the conservation of Chure. But the program has failed to achieve targeted goals. The President Tarai Madhes River Conservation Development Project has been running for over a decade, with billions spent. However, the water reservoirs formed by rivers are depleting due to rampant illegal mining and encroachment.

Caught in this quagmire is Sonabatti Mukhiya (70) of Kanchanrup Municipality-7 in Dhanusa. At an age when she should be resting, she has walked hundreds of kilometers from rural Madhes to Kathmandu in search of water. This is her first time seeing Kathmandu.

Sonabatti is worried that the Kamala River, which flowed year-round in the past, is now drying up. “The perennially flowing Kamala River has started drying up. It is becoming unrecognizable,” she said. “They are bringing huge tippers and excavators to extract sand and boulders at night. The police just watch. They are all hand-in-glove. If this is not stopped, the Kamala River will soon vanish without a trace.”

Where has the water disappeared?

Wells, ponds, and lakes are drying up. Since last year, even rivers and streams have started drying up. Tankers are supplying water to the villages, say the victims.

“How do we survive now?” lamented Maina Devi Sada (45) of Matiarwa in Lahan Municipality-2, Siraha. “We only hear the swishing sound in the handpump in our courtyards. Where has the water disappeared?”

After the handpumps dried up, new taps were installed in homes. But these taps trickle only in the mornings and evenings, shared Mainadevi. “How do we quench our thirst? It seems both food and water will become scarce. What is the government doing?” she questioned. “How do we cook? How do we feed our children? How do we bathe ourselves and the cattle?”

Chure expert Dr Bijaya Kumar Singh said groundwater in Madhes isn't getting recharged due to Chure exploitation.

With rivers and streams drying up, people have not been able to irrigate their farmland. The green paddy fields swaying in the breeze now lie barren. “The streams have dried up so much that when someone in the village dies, there is not even a drop of water for cremation rituals,” Mainadevi added.

Jituwa Musahar was gazing at the pyres at the cremation grounds of Aryaghat from the Bagmati Bridge the other day. His anguish mirrored that of a bereaved family grappling with the loss of a loved one.

Jituwa, aged 68, hails from the Tharu settlement in Banaha in Bhangaha Municipality-4 of Mahottari. Land mafias manipulated officials to usurp land and property belonging to Jituwa and over a hundred other hapless victims from the settlement. With land registration certificates in their names, they are threatening the locals to vacate the settlement.

About two dozen local residents are now in Kathmandu to draw the government's attention toward their plight. They have secured loans to cover their travel expenses. In the federal capital, they met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha and apprised them of their situation.

A meager four-room thatched-roof hut, six kattha of land, and eight mango trees represent the entirety of Jituwa and his family’s possessions. Now, the land mafias are demanding the family to leave the settlement. “For five generations, I have called this place home. Where else can I go?” he questioned.

More than 1,200 individuals of 187 landless families have been living in Banara settlement. People began settling in Banara during the 1950s. Impoverished communities like the Musahar, Chamar, Raut, Tatma, and Tharu have resided in this settlement spread over 45 bighas. Many of them earn a livelihood as daily wage earners.

Locals allege that land mafias have fraudulently registered both the settlements and farmlands in their own names across the entire 45 bighas. These unscrupulous individuals are coming to the settlement armed with land registration certificates, coercing local residents to quit the settlement at the earliest. Some of these unscrupulous actors are selling off land plots in the settlement, while others have pledged them as collateral to secure bank loans.

For the past two and a half decades, local residents have persistently sought government intervention to resolve the matter. Multiple governments have risen and fallen during this period, yet none have heeded their appeals. Even the local representatives, who these people voted into office, now choose to remain as mute spectators.

“We have lost sleep over this. We are on the brink of losing everything we hold dear,” lamented Jituwa. “Residents of the settlement often wake up in the middle of the night, fearing bulldozers will raze their settlement.”

Jituwa recounted how a team from the Landless Commission first visited the settlement back in 1997. “They meticulously surveyed our households and farms. We believed that we would finally obtain land ownership certificates,” he explained. “However, we later learned that the land registration certificates for our property had been issued in someone else’s name.”

According to Jituwa, the land has since changed hands two or three times. He revealed that an individual named Shyam Sah from Birta currently possesses the land ownership certificate for the plot on which he and his family reside. “He is demanding Rs 2.1m for a six-kattha plot. How can I afford such a huge amount of money?” he questioned.

The land grab mafias forged alliances with officials from the Land Revenue Office and Survey Office when Landless Commission teams fanned out to various districts. Through collusion with these officials, they fraudulently registered entire settlements in their own names. These newly designated ‘owners’ were duly registered in the government's records.

During the tenure of the Surya Bahadur Thapa-led coalition government of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepali Congress (NC), RPP leader Bishwa Nath Karna was appointed as the head of the Landless Commission in Mahottari. “It was during this time that our land was distributed to people from Okhaldhunga, Morang, Bhojpur, Parsa, and other districts,” Jituwa noted. “They remained dormant for many years but are now becoming active.”

Jituwa claimed to have heard that the commission’s president registered land in the settlement in the names of their relatives at hotels in Janakpur and Jaleshwar. “How can land from this settlement be registered in the names of individuals from Kharia, Suga, Jaleshwar, and Matihani? They neither resided here nor cultivated this land,” Jituwa argued.

Residents of the settlement have visited the ward office, municipality office, land revenue and survey offices, district administration office, and even the Madhes Province Government. However, none have taken any meaningful action to address their grievances.

“Everyone promised to find a solution to our problem. We believed in them and cast our votes, but they forgot about us once they were elected,” Jituwa shared, his frustration palpable.

On January 10, 2020, Chandrakala Devi Mahato was in bed when neighbors came knocking at her door. “The crusherwalas killed your son,” they said. Mahato ran to the banks of the river to find her son Dilip lie motionless.

Dilip and his friends had tried to stop a group of people from extracting sand from the river. When they were attacked, his friends managed to escape, but Dilip was not as fortunate.

The incident that took place in Sreepur, Mithila Municipality-5, Dhanusha 17 months ago shows that the extraction of sand and other construction materials from the Chure region is no longer just about natural resources, but also about mushrooming crime in the region. 

Contractors are illegally mining the Chure and Bhawar region of the country and those who try to stop them are greeted with pistols and khukuri. Many people who raised their voices against the exploitation of natural resources have met with a fate similar to that of Dilip Mahato.

"The illegal exploitation of Chure’s resources is an epidemic just like Covid-19," said CPN-UML Mahottari district member Ram Hari Khatiwada.

Sreepur is located in the Bhawar area of Chure, where rivers are both a lifeline and a threat. The over-extraction of sand and other aggregates from the river has caused water shortages in winter and exacerbated floods during the rainy season. 

When Dilip's father Ramjivan was in class nine, he had to abandon his studies as he needed to work in the farm. He had dreamed of making his son Dilip an engineer. Ramjivan's dream was shattered by his son's murder.

"The government should declare Dilip an environmental martyr," said Dilip's father. "He sacrificed his life for the protection of Chure."

Under the patronage of political parties and leaders, mining has boomed in Chure. Former President Dr Ram Baran Yadav is worried as Madhes is in crisis and urges everyone to save Chure.

Mahesh Jha, Congress leader from Bardibas in Mahottari, says few people, including journalists, dare to speak, write and debate on the illegal extraction of the river beds. "Anyone who speaks out against them is in danger,” he said.

If the illegal activities of Chure exploitation are not stopped, it will deeply affect life in the Terai. The Terai, located on the banks of the rivers that originate in the Chure, is home to 50 percent of the country's population.

Bardibas Municipality decided to allow contractors to dig the Ratwa river bed using heavy machines such as excavators, rejecting the law made by the federal government. There is strong opposition to it now.

Although the municipality signed a contract to excavate the river after conducting an environmental impact assessment, the contractor has violated the rules and the municipality is turning a blind eye to it.

Giriraj Mani Pokharel, a member of the House of Representatives from Mahottari-1, has demanded that illegal excavations be halted at the earliest.

According to engineer Nagdev Yadav, excavation of the Bhawar area of Chure has made Madhes even more insecure. Most of the plants are operating in the Bhawar area of Chure. The Ministry of Industry, Tourism, and Environment of Province 2 set the criteria for the operation of extraction plants by approving the 'Procedure for Establishing and Operating Stone, Ballast, Sand Excavation’. However, most plants operate without meeting set standards.

Chure expert Vijay Singh said, “The area up to 10 km south of Chure is heavily excavated. The Chure hills cover 12.78 percent of the total area of Nepal. ‘Chure are the youngest mountains in Nepal. The unscientific exploitation of Chure is increasingly turning Madhes into a desert,” he said.