Police remove defaulting contractor's posters
BHAKTAPUR, Nov 16: After enraged locals pasted posters containing the mugshot of contractor Sharada Adhikari alongside images of dogs and monkeys in public places Tuesday to protest the delay in road construction, Adhikari's Shailung Construction Company has resumed work on the Bhaktapur–Nagarkot road.
However, the locals are still not assured that the road would be completed on time. They said the contractor just like in the past, may again stop the work. On the other hand, plainclothes policemen on Friday removed all the disparaging posters from the public places saying they received orders from above to do so.
"They have started the work under pressure of our protest. Earlier also, they would work for a few days after our protest, so we fear that they might leave the work midway again," said Rajkumar Lamichhane, a local of Nagarkot. "As far as I know, the construction company's track record is not good," he added.
Main contractor outsourced work to four others for commissions
It is alleged that Adhikari wins contracts for government work using his connection with NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and sits on the contracts with impunity. The house at Khumaltar currently used as residence by Dahal belongs to Adhikari.
According to Lamichhane, locals of Bhaktapur to Nagarkot are fed up with the slow progress of the road work.
On Tuesday, the locals had pasted the posters at public places along the Kamalbinayak-Nagarkot road including electricity poles, trees and public buses mocking the contractor. Nagarkot Nandum Tourism Development Committee had taken the lead of the protest. According to the committee, 130 posters were pasted on electric poles and 40 on vehicles. This act had received extensive media coverage.
The contract for widening the 16-km road was awarded to Shailung six years ago.
The locals said they will come up with more effective forms of protests if the contractor stops the work again.
