Gorkha, April 11 -- The illegal extraction of sand and construction aggregates from the banks of Daraudi River in Gorkha district has affected the farming landscape of the surrounding areas, local farmers say.

According to farmers in Gorkha Municipality, they are facing difficulties in irrigating their farmlands, as the water level in the Daraudi river has been decreasing over the years due to excessive extraction of riverbed materials.

Man Bahadur Thapa, a resident of Ward No. 10 in Gorkha Municipality, says the excessive extraction of riverbed materials has increased the depth of the river, making it difficult to channelise water to the irrigation canal that feeds around 5,000 ropanis (254.36 hectares) of agricultural land from Beni K...