As soon as 12-year-old Bidhan Ale Magar returned home from school, he wasted no time. He threw his bag on the bed and rushed outside to play football. It was raining but that did not stop the young boy whose feet were itching to play. But little did he know that the rain would cause him to vanish as if he were part of a mysterious and unsettling magic performance.
On July 23, Bidhan fell into the Samakushi Khola which had swollen up. He has been missing ever since. Rescue efforts have been underway but he has not been found.
His father, Manoj Magar is in shock. Never in his wildest dreams did he think his son would be swept away by the stream that flows calmly near their home. Manoj owns a restaurant while his wife is currently in Portugal. With over a week since Bidhan has gone missing, both Manoj and his wife live in constant agony.
Everyone in Tilingtar and Ranibari is worried sick. They know it could have been their child who fell in the hole. Which is why everyone wants to see Bidhan come home.
I went to visit Manoj at his home in Tilingtar on July 24. The house was full of relatives and well-wishers. Manoj was in disarray. He did not know what to do. His father was trying to console him but it was clear he was going through a lot. You could see it in his eyes.
“I feel helpless. There is nothing I can do. I do not know where to go to seek help. All I can do is wait and this pain is unbearable,” said Manoj.
Drowning in Despair
Bidhan Ale Magar’s school bag is still on his bed. The medals he has won along with his school identity card hang on a cupboard.
He studies in grade six at Bhanubhakta Memorial School, Panipokhari, Kathmandu. Manoj says Bidhan loved studying but he also has an interest in taekwondo and other sports. The medals he’s won are all from him playing these sports.
His favourite pass time is playing football. As soon as he came home, he rushed to a futsal court in Samakhusi. That is where he was going on July 23 before he was swept away.
It was raining and his aunt asked him to stay at home like most of his friends. Bidhan did not listen to her. Instead, he made me friends and walk towards the futsal court through the narrow alleys of Tilingtar.
The road was mucky and the river beside it had swollen up to the road’s level. Some parts of the road were waterlogged. No one was walking on the road. School buses were stuck in the mud. Adamant to play, Bidhan and his friends were carefully navigating to get to the court.
Suddenly Bidhan disappeared. He fell into the river as he could not make out where exactly the road was. Not many people saw this happen. One who did is Shanti Kandel, who runs a shop nearby the incident.
“It was a terrifying incident,” says Kandel. “As the river was covered by the slab, nobody could help him.”
Lack of initiatives and haphazard urbanisation
The area where he fell is a death trap. There are no warning signs nor does it have any safety barricade. The Ranibari police station is just 500 metres away from the incident spot. Around 4 pm the locals informed the station about the incident. But the police could not do anything as the water flow was excessive.
After being informed about his son disappearing, Manoj was in disbelief. He rushed to the futsal to look for him but he did not find Bidhan so he came home where the police were waiting for him. He pleaded begged but there was nothing the police could do. But he still believes his son would be with him if the police were mobilised as soon as the incident happened.
“The incident is caused due to the extreme negligence of the government,” says Nilima Gurung, a local at Ranibari.
They say this because Kathmandu metropolitan city has not completed the road expansion project even after two years. This frustrated the locals who feel things would have been different if they could have completed the road construction on time.
The locals have even kept a black poster questioning the city government about how long they have to endure this as the dust has made their lives a living hell.
Kathmandu metropolis however has not announced a tender to tarmac the road. What frustrates the locals is it also removed the slab that was covering the stream into which Bidhan Ale Magar fell.
Manoj points out that the slab used to block the Samakhusi khola and the chaotic urban development caused a delay in rescuing his son. He emphasises the urgent need for constructing a road to prevent such problems from occurring in the future.
Locals like Saroj Kakshyapati feel Manoj’s pain. He feels the city government has not been efficient enough.
“They do not work on time and do not work effectively. Similarly, they also do not apply any safety measures while working in the river area,” says Kakshyapati. “Kathmandu metropolis should fully take responsibility for the lost child.”
This is not the first time that such an incident has taken place. A few years back a similar incident took place, he adds.
The head of the infrastructure department of Kathmandu metropolis, Ram Thapa told Onlinekhabar that the road has been torn down due to laid down water pipes and electric wire.
“To ensure the quality work, we have announced the tender of Rs 20 million, but no one has bid for it.,” says Thapa. “Currently, we are evaluating another tender.”
Thapa asserts that Bidhan Ale Magar’s incident was not caused by the road condition but rather by the force of the flood that swept him away.
“Now we will work soon and address the problem and prevent the places from flooding,” says Thapa.
This story was translated from the original Nepali version and edited for clarity and length.
