KALIKOT, Feb 13: Accidents often occur when vehicles are operated without permission on the rural roads of Kalikot district. Most of the dozer operators, being engineers themselves, have had accidents on under-construction roads dug by the local level. Car accidents happen every day on these roads, which are dug haphazardly without technical measurements.
A few months ago, four people were injured when a Bolero jeep carrying players crashed in Shubhakalika Rural Municipality-4 of the district. Just two weeks ago, a cargo mini truck met with an accident on the same road. One person was seriously injured in the accident.
About five vehicular accidents have occurred in Shubhakali Rural Municipality in the last six months. Similarly, road accidents have also been occuring frequently on the rural roads of Sanni Triveni Rural Municipality, Narahari Nath Rural Municipality and Raskot Municipality.
Umesh Dhital, a vehicle driver, expressed concerns about how he would pay the installments of the vehicle without operating it. “Despite facing challenges of accidents while driving on unsafe roads, we are obliged to drive,” he said.
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Most of the roads in Kalikot are left incomplete by the builders. The roads are not safe to drive on. The locals operate dozers on the roads without any expertise, risking the lives of the commuters.
The drivers are compelled to operate vehicles on such risky roads due to various reasons, one of them being the insistence of the passengers.
The transport committee has not even issued route permits on rural roads. Dhital, the driver, mentioned that he had to drive the vehicle due to the request of passengers and financial constraints.
The roads that are dug by the local government have not been upgraded. Chief District Officer of Kalikot Ganesh Nepali maintained that vehicles should be allowed to operate only after monitoring the condition of roads.
In some places, vehicles are driven on the under-construction roads where only dozers are supposed to ply. This is done due to the compulsion of the passengers and the temptation of the driver, resulting in some major accidents. Accidents have been taking place frequently due to this.
Karnali Corridor remains without route permit
The government authorities are yet to issue route permits for vehicles to ply on the road section from Khulalu in Kalikot to Salli Salla in Humla. So, one has to drive at his/her own risk. The Nepalese Army is working in the Humla road section.
Residents of Karnali are forced to drive their vehicles on the unfinished roads. Humla is still not connected to the national road network. Due to the lack of construction of the road, vehicular accidents occur in this section as well. Currently, due to lack of route permit, the transport operators have been collecting fares arbitrarily from passengers.
Even though the District Administration Office Kalikot has fixed the fare several times, the problem has been compounded by the lack of route permits. Passengers traveling on this road are forced to pay expensive fares. Traffic rules are not enforced on the road section.
Passengers traveling from Khulalu of Karnali Corridor to Raskot, Pachaljharna, Palanta to Bajura, Lekhi and the lower part of Humla have to bear the risk of accidents.
The passengers are facing risks of accidents due to the lack of safe and reliable roads. There are no traffic police on the rural roads of Kalikot and the Karnali Corridor.
