Australian experts test Sikta soil

Nepalganj : A team of experts from Australia has examined the soil of the western canal of the Sikta Irrigation Project currently under construction in Banke. The experts’ team arrived here on Tuesday to test the ‘dissolvable’ soil that was found at some points of the west main canal of the project. A portion of the canal had caved in during a trial run of the canal when water was released into the canal a few months back.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a case against 21 persons concluding that the western section of the main canal has been constructed in a faulty manner from economic misappropriation. CIAA has sought realizing 8.5 billion in compensation from those persons.
Project director Krishna Nepal said that soluble soil has been used in higher quantity on the five kilometers section of the main irrigation canal from Balapur to Jhijhari Khola of Dhakeri in Banke district.