Swollen Sharda washes away school building in U.P.’s Lakhimpur Kheri

A day earlier, Kheri DM Mahendra Bahadur Singh visited the village and advised the villagers to move to safe places

A primary school building at Ahirana village in Lakhimpur Kheri district’s Phoolbehar block was washed away by the swollen Sharda on Thursday morning. Two hutments were also reported to have been washed away by the river in the village. The river is in spate following several rain spells.

Manpur Kardahiya basic school getting eroded away by the Sharda river in Phoolbehar block of Kheri district on July 13. (HT photo)

Ahirana, a small village, is located along the banks of the Sharda in the flood-prone area between two afflux bunds, about 15 km north off the district headquarters. With heavy rain lashing the hilly areas of Nepal, the Sharda river started swelling a week ago and almost entire village was exposed to erosion threat.

Villagers, however, were alert in view of the scenario. Within a week, nearly a dozen houses and hutments, agricultural land with crops have been devastated. Earlier on Tuesday, Kheri DM Mahendra Bahadur Singh visited the village and advised the villagers to move to safe places.

He had also instructed Kheri BSA to immediately shift the students and teaching staff of the school to neighbouring Shankarpur village. Villagers fear that given the situation, much more loss of property would be caused. However, no loss of human life or cattle has been reported so far.