Bajhang, July 6 -- As many as 137 families of two remote villages in Bajura, a hill district of Sudurpaschim Province, have been displaced after the landmass below the settlements caved in.

The provincial government had constructed the Kawadi-Ruginbichchhan road section that passes through Ward No. 5 last December. Around the same time, a road was constructed through Ward No. 4 to connect Dhulachaur to Bortna. The rural roads snake through the foot of the hillock where the settlements lie, which might have caused the landslides, officials say.

"The land below the villages caved in as the lower part of the hillock was dug out while constructing the roads," said Birkha Pandey, coordinator of the employment programme of the local unit. He ...