NEPALGUNJ, June 27: Nepalgunj is now a far bigger city than it was when Dal Bahadur Singh first migrated here from Surkhet a few decades ago. And the city is expanding rapidly. But Singh is not happy with the activities that are happening in the city in the name of development. 

“There are electricity poles everywhere but no electricity. There are roads everywhere but no sewerages and basic facilities. There are taps but the water coming from them is not drinkable. This is not development. Nepalgunj has become a chaotic place to live in,” said Singha, a resident of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City ward no 18. 

He is also not happy with the way agricultural land is swiftly turning into residential areas. The sanitation issue, he said, is emerging as the biggest threat to public health.

Singh said that the city's miseries have a lot to do with the unscientific and unplanned development. 

“This happened because there were no elected representatives for a long time. This mismanagement has slowly become the norm,” said Singh. 

Singh is hopeful that things would not remain the same once the city elects its representatives. Banke district looks set to go to polls on June 28. 

Like Singh, many of the around 63,000 voters in Nepalgunj said they are expecting a major overhaul in the way development works are being carried out. 

They also want their new local representatives to be elected to focus on the burning issues facing farmers, blue-collar workers, laborers and small businesses. 

“A lot of people still depend on agriculture. But there are no irrigation facilities in most parts of the districts. Irrigation could change the face of this district,” said Singh. 

Govinda Shah, another resident of Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City, said that the immediate focus of the local government should be to meet the basic needs of the city. 
“It would be great if the local government resolved the issues of load shedding, drinking water and sewerage. The faster these things are addressed, the better it would be for the city's residents. The situation is becoming unbearable,” said Shah.  

Like the urbanites, voters living in rural areas are also hopeful of development after the elections.  

Binod Thapa, a local of Khajura Rural Municipality, a village which was swept by floods a few years ago, said the new mayor's first job should be to resolve flood problems by constructing a dam along the river. He said that the construction of roads should be another immediate priority. 

“There was no road in our village until recently. We youths opened the track with the money we raised through Deusi-Bhailo. It should be widened and blacktopped. If that is not possible, they should at least gravel the road,” said Thapa.  

“The schools in our village are not as good as the ones in the urban areas. The elected representatives should work for the better performance of the schools and increase the quality of education,” said Biru Chaudhary, a resident of Baijya Nath Rural Municipality, Banke.

 
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