Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Ravi Lamichhane has warned that erosion by the Narayani River could in the future force the relocation of Chitwan's bazaar area, a possibility he said is pointed to by technical studies. The warning came after Lamichhane inspected and monitored the damage along the Narayani riverbank, where the river has been cutting into land near the market settlement. According to the RSP chairman, immediate and long-term plans will now be prepared to protect the bazaar area, and he underlined that protecting the people is the government's first priority.

A warning grounded in technical studies

What makes the warning stand out is its basis. Lamichhane did not raise the prospect of relocation as a passing observation; he tied it explicitly to technical studies of the river. As reported by RatoPati and Gorkhapatra Online, he said these studies indicate that continued erosion by the Narayani could, at some point, make it necessary to move the bazaar area altogether.

He was careful to present relocation as a future possibility rather than an announced decision, but the underlying message was stark. Rivers in Nepal's southern plains are dynamic, and a major river like the Narayani can shift its course and consume banks with alarming speed during the monsoon, when its flow swells with rain and mountain runoff. Against that backdrop, a formal warning that a market settlement may one day have to move signals how seriously the authorities now view the river's advance.

Chitwan lies along the river's course, and its bazaar area serves as a commercial hub for the surrounding district. That is what gives the warning its weight: a relocation would not merely shift buildings, it would upend a centre of trade around which many people have built their livelihoods.

First-hand inspection along the riverbank

Before speaking publicly, Lamichhane went to see the damage for himself, inspecting and monitoring the affected stretch of the Narayani riverbank. Pradesh Khabar was among the outlets that reported the field visit. On-site assessments of this kind serve a practical purpose: they allow leaders and technical teams to gauge the scale of bank cutting directly rather than relying on second-hand accounts, and they typically inform decisions on where protective measures should be concentrated.

The inspection and the warning that followed are closely linked. By visiting the site first, Lamichhane grounded his remarks in what was visible along the bank: erosion that, according to the technical assessments he cited, has progressed far enough to raise questions about the long-term viability of the bazaar area where it stands. For the traders and residents who depend on the market, the visit at least confirmed that the threat has been registered at a senior political level, and that its implications are being discussed openly rather than quietly.

A two-track response: immediate and long-term

In his remarks after the inspection, Lamichhane set out a two-track commitment. The plans to protect the bazaar area, he said, would be prepared at two levels, reflecting both the urgency of the present situation and the need for a durable answer to the river's behaviour. The commitments reported so far amount to:

  • Immediate plans to address the pressing risk posed by the Narayani's erosion along the banks near the bazaar area
  • Long-term plans intended to secure the settlement against the river in the years ahead
  • Technical studies as the reference point for both sets of measures, so that decisions rest on engineering assessments rather than guesswork

The distinction matters. Immediate measures are, by their nature, aimed at the near term, responding to damage already visible along the bank and reducing risk while conditions remain critical. Long-term plans, by contrast, are about permanence: ensuring that a market area which anchors commerce for the surrounding district is not left to the mercy of an unpredictable river. Details such as the specific works envisaged, the agencies involved, the budget and the timeline were not spelled out in the remarks reported so far, but the public commitment to prepare both kinds of plans marks the issue out for continued attention.

'Protecting the people is the first priority'

Alongside the plans, Lamichhane framed the response in explicitly principled terms, stating that protecting the people is the government's first priority. The phrasing positions the safety of settlements threatened by the river as a core duty of the state rather than a local concern to be deferred. It also carries practical weight: if the protection of people is the declared first priority, then the studies, inspections and plans that follow are expected to be treated with corresponding seriousness, from funding through to implementation.

For now, the people of Chitwan's bazaar area have both a warning and a promise. The warning is that technical studies see a future in which the river's erosion could compel the market to move. The promise is that immediate and long-term plans will be prepared to prevent that outcome, guided by the principle that people's protection comes first. What residents and traders will watch next is whether those plans are drawn up quickly, resourced adequately and put in place before the Narayani turns a caution about relocation into an inevitability.