Before the sound of explosives detonating used to mean the security forces and Maoist guerrillas were fighting each other, but in the recent post-ceasefire days the villagers of Kusum VDC in Banke recognise it as the sound that accompanies someone's 'fishing' expedition in the Rapti River.

The army, police and even civilians are involved in the latest scheme that garners bigger catches than traditional methods. "We hear blasts night and day, and truckloads of fish are driven off daily," says a local.

The ecology of the area and the residents are both suffering under this fresh onslaught. The sound often transports them to tough times during the state of emergency. The local administration has banned bombing the river for fish through the local papers but no one pays the notices any heed. The activity is gaining popularity, partially because there is no law-enforcing unit to prohibit it. This rural area that shares its border with India has yet to see its' only police station renovated after it was bombed by Maoist rebels.

Banke's Chief District Officer Dilli Raj Joshi professed ignorance about dynamite 'fishing' in the Rapti. "Some unscrupulous persons may be doing that but we have yet to be informed about it," he says.