DOLAKHA, July 2: The road connecting the district headquarters Charikot with the Bhimeshwar Temple of Dolakha Bazaar was recently blacktopped after widening. Earlier, passengers and pedestrians traveling through this route had to deal with water-filled potholes in monsoon and dust in summer. Now, the road has been widened by five to six meters.
The road-widening is a huge relief to the users but the two small culverts in the two-lane road often compel them to hold their breath. "The road was widened after a long wait," said Nirajan Thapa, owner of Woods Resort near Gautam Tole, adding," But these two culverts in the road have increased the risk of accidents."
Residents of Karnali exposed to high risks of accidents on unsa...
According to him, these two two-three meters wide culverts could crumble and vehicles could fall into the Sang and Maryang rivers. Even though it has been a long time since these culverts were constructed, they are still left open. A few days ago, a motorcycle and a cycle met with an accident at Tikhatal due to the lack of a Gabion wall along the road. According to the locals, drivers who speed up their vehicles on the newly-blacktopped road have to press on their brakes as soon as they reach the culverts.
The negligence by the contractor delayed the upgrading and blacktopping of this four kilometers long road which stretches from Charikot to Pakhlati of Dolakha. Three years ago, Shrestha and Samanantar Construction Service had jointly accepted the project for Rs 70 million. As Shrestha Constructions left the project halfway, Samanantar took the responsibility and completed the blacktopping in four months.
As the company is yet to receive its payment, it has left the culverts open. Dharmendra Jha, Chief of Road Division Office (RDO) says they are unable to clear the previous payment of Samanantar which is why the culverts have been left open. According to him, in the beginning, this project was handled by the federal government but later it tried to hand it over to the provincial government. "However, the provincial government refused to accept the project saying it does not have budget. This is the reason we have not been able to pay the contractor," said Jha.
RDO has submitted the project's file to the finance ministry demanding the payment. RDO chief Jha assured that the culverts over both rivers will be widened if budget is allocated in the upcoming fiscal year. Usually, slab culverts are constructed on roads shorter than six kilometers while and bridges are built along roads longer than six kilometers.
