ARGHAKHANCHI, April 22: Basanta Malla, a resident of Bhumikasthan Municipality-3 in Arghakhanchi, on Sunday was sifting through the ashes of her fire-ravaged house. A total of 16 families have been left high and dry after the fire on Saturday destroyed their houses, food grains and clothes.
"My house was destroyed in no time. I don’t know where I am gonna live and what I am gonna eat," Malla said with tears in her eyes.
Ganga Bahadur BK, a local, has the same pain as Malla. "Ornaments, food items, clothes, important documents such as land ownership certificates and citizenship certificates were destroyed in the fire," he said, adding that nothing in the house could be saved.”
Not only Basanta and Ganga Bahadur, 13 families whose houses were burnt in the fire in Dharapani on Saturday are now forced to live under the open sky.
Information Officer at the District Police Office, Dipendra Rawal, said that 16 houses and 10 cowsheds were gutted in the fire in Ratamata, Jabundanda, Bajakharka and Falamkhilji villages of Dharapani of Bhumikasthan Municipality.
Although the fire in the settlement was brought under control, the forest fire is yet to be completely doused.
Chief District Officer Surya Bahadur Khatri has distributed food items to the families who lost their homes to the fire.
At the initiative of the District Administration Office, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has provided food items to 16 families of Ratamata area whose houses were destroyed in the fire. Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry district chapter president Pradeep Mishra said food items including rice, pulses, oil and salt have been distributed.
As many as 43 houses were gutted in the fire that broke out in different parts of the district on Saturday. Twenty houses and 23 cowsheds were destroyed and 11 goats and six buffaloes were killed in the fire at Bhumikasthan Municipality, Shitganga Municipality and Panini Rural Municipality on Saturday.