DHADING, August 2: Meen Narayan Shrestha of Siddhalake Rural Municipality-3 of Dhading has abruptly discontinued reconstruction of his house after completing damp-proof course. The house was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake. But he has not been able to transport the required construction materials such as bricks and cements to his village, Dumidada.

“Vehicles have stopped operating on the road here due to heavy rains. There is no condition to operate vehicles to transport the materials,” said Shrestha. “Now the reconstruction works of my house has come to an abrupt halt.”

Majority of the rural villages are deprived of transportation service during the monsoon. Vehicles have stopped operating along Dhadingbesi-Salyantar road section, Sankosh-Tipling road section, and Aadamghat-Kiranchowk road among others. Incessant rainfalls have caused damages to those roads, preventing vehicles from operating.

Although construction of proper roads is underway in many locations, sluggish pace of the construction has been the main obstacle.

The construction of important roads that connect Dhadingbesi with Salyantar, Sankosh and Tipling in the north at snail's pace has troubled the locals for many years. While alternative roads operate during winter with difficulty, the roads remain completely halted during monsoon.

Constructions of many such important road links are stranded. Locals have requested the contractors to complete the works at the earliest so that they do not have to face the same problem during every monsoon.

“If vehicles don't operate, we cannot transport construction materials. Even if we take risk to transport the materials, most of the time it gets stuck in the muddy road, increasing the trouble,” said Shrestha.

Especially, the northern part of the district has been heavily affected. Due to its remote location, the already difficult transportation of goods of daily necessities has now completely stopped. Along with salts and other necessities, they also have not been able to transport construction materials.

According to Nar Bahadur Lamsal, a local of Nilkantha Municipality-12, contractors have not paid due attention in constructing roads by following all the required standards. “Instead, they are too busy competing against each other on who gets more contracts.”

Rural roads that see operation of over 60 vehicles per day during normal times are without a single vehicle at present. Locals want to see the issue resolve at the earliest.

 
• locals
 
• trouble
 
• vehicles
 
• rural
 
• roads
 
• discontinue
 
• operations