Darchula. The Khalanga-Khar road section, which was promoted as a pride plan of the Sudurpaschim Province government, is still incomplete. In this plan, which was announced in the fiscal year 2075/076 as the state’s pride road, no effective work has been done so far even in the seven kilometer area.
As the construction of this short distance road connecting Gokuleshwar via Khalanga-Khar is incomplete, the common people are forced to travel dangerously. Out of the 15 km road section from the headquarters Khalanga to Dallekh, the work has not yet progressed in the seven km area that has been damaged by the flood.
In the year 2077, a contract was awarded for road black paper. While some work was going on, the flood that occurred in Dunguri River in the last week of August 2079 destroyed the road structure. Since then, due to the delay in the reconstruction of the damaged structures, the transport operation has now become risky.
Locals say that the road from Mullah, Maikholi and Sela under Mahakali Municipality-2 and Katai to Dunguri area of Ward No. 3 is in a very dangerous condition. Due to the erosion of the river, the lower part of the road has been washed away and the landslide that fell from above has not been removed.
According to the jeep driver Vishansingh Nagal, even though there is some improvement up to Dunguri, one has to take a lot of risk to drive on the road above that. “Even if it rains a little, the road gets blocked”, he said, “Due to negligence in road construction, the locals have to suffer.”
As the roads are not in regular operation, the locals of Mahakali Municipality-2 and Naugad Rural Municipality are more affected during droughts. According to Saraswati Dobal of Naugad Rural Municipality-2, there is a problem in getting the local products to the market due to road blockage.
“Vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers are produced in our area”, he said, “but due to the lack of regular roads, they cannot be delivered to the market on time. There is also a problem in the transportation of food from Khalanga.” Even though the 72 km long Khalanga-Gokuleswar paved road under the Mahakali highway is in operation, the locals are suffering because the short distance alternative road has remained incomplete for a long time.
Although the budget of the financial year 2077/078 has been set to complete the black paper within three years, even the track has not been improved in many places. According to Jeetendrasingh Dhami, Engineer of Infrastructure Development Office, Baitadi, in the current financial year, work is being done to put gabion mesh, RCC structures and culverts in Dunguri, Katai and other areas. “Work is being done in some places”, he said, “but it has not progressed at the expected speed.”
The office said that the work was delayed due to the negligence of the builders. The office says that despite repeated requests, the construction work has not picked up speed. Daljitsinh Dhami, president of Naugad Rural Municipality, said that last year, Naugad rural municipality had repaired the road using JVC with its own investment. “We have tried to operate vehicles up to our area”, he said, “If we coordinate with Mahakali municipality, the road can be brought into regular operation.”
Earlier, the Infrastructure Development Office had signed a contract for road paving in two packages. But since the road construction work could not proceed effectively after the flood, even now the track is in a damaged condition in many places from Khalanga to Katai.