The Karnali River Control Project has halted over a land compensation dispute. The people living along the 3 km stretch to the west of Daulatpur in Rajapur Municipality, Bardiya, have obstructed the project after they were reportedly denied land acquisition compensation. Laxman Tharu, one of the protesters, said they cannot just offer their lands to the project to build the embankment. “A large investment has gone into the embankment construction, but the project is reluctant to compensate people for the land takeover. Our lands are valuable to us. The project must pay us compensation if it wants to build the embankment,” he said. Thirty-six families of Daulatpur own lands on the site of the proposed embankment. The project began construction of the 43 km embankment in February, 2015, to mitigate flood and erosion risks posed by the Karnali river in Rajapur area. The project has so far completed building about 3.5 km of the embankment at Guptipur (103 metres), Banghusra (1,200 metres), Rajapur (975 metres), Sankatti (200 metres), Pattharbojhi (400 metres), and Kailali’s Shahipur (600 metres). The project is supposed to be completed in two years. However, the probability of the project completing on time seems quite low, given the slow work progress and now the protest started by the Daulatpur residents. Tilak Khatri, the project chief, said since the government had no policy of compensating the landowners, they cannot fulfil the demand of the protesters. “The political leaders trying to settle the issue, but there has been no headway in the talks yet,” he said. कर्णाली नदीको तटीय क्षेत्रको दौलतपुरमा स्थानीयले निर्माण कार्यमा अवरोध गरेका छन् । उनीहरूले तटबन्धलाई दिने जग्गाको मुआब्जा नपाउने भएपछि काम अघि बढ्न रोकेका हुन् । कर्णाली नदी व्यवस्थापन आयोजनाका अनुसार तटबन्धलाई जग्गा दिँदा स्थानीयले मुआब्जा नपाउने भएपछि विरोध जनाएका हुन् । राजापुरस्थित दौलतपुरको पश्चिम भेगमा करिब ३ किमि जग्गा तटबन्धका लागि चाहिने भएको हो । दौलतपुरका लक्षमण थारूले तटबन्धका लागि सित्तैमा महँगो जग्गा दिन नसक्ने बताए । सरकारले तटबन्धका लागि ठूलो धनराशि खर्च गर्दै आए पनि जग्गाको मुआब्जा दिन कन्जुस्याइँ गरेको उनको आरोप छ । तटबन्धका लागि प्रयोग हुने जग्गा तीन दर्जन घरधुरीको पर्छ । आयोजनाका प्रमुख तिलक खत्रीले तटबन्धमा प्रयोग हुने जग्गाको मुआब्जा दिने सरकारको नीति नभएकाले उपलब्ध गराउन नसकेको बताए । राजापुर क्षेत्र कर्णाली नदी कटान र बाढीको उच्च जोखिममा छ । तबन्ध सुचारुका लागि स्थानीय दलका प्रतिनिधिले पहल गरे पनि समाधान हुन नसकेको उनले बताए । ०७१ साल फागुनबाट सुरु भएको तटबन्ध ०७५ सालभित्र सम्पन्न गरिसक्ने सरकारी योजना छ । योजनाअनुसार कर्णाली र गेरुवा नदीमा ४३ किमि तटबन्धको काम थालिएको हो । कार्यालयका अनुसार कर्णालीमा ३० र गेरुवामा १३ किमि तटबन्धको काम अगाडि बढाइएको हो । चालु आर्थिक वर्षभित्र १८ किमि काम सम्पन्न हुने आयोजनाले जनाएको छ । नदी कटान र बाढीले बर्सेनि सय बिघाभन्दा बढी जग्गा बगाउने गरेकाले तटबन्ध निर्माण थालिएको हो । करिब ११ अर्बको लागतमा काम सम्पन्न हुने लक्ष्य राख्दै कर्णालीमा तटबन्धको काम सुरु भएको हो ।