Road connecting Rolpa district headquarters damaged, locals irked

Published On: August 6, 2020 01:58 PM NPT By: Dinesh Subedi

The road that links Ghartigaun to the district headquarters Libang. Dinesh Subedi.

ROLPA, August 5: The main road that connects Libang, headquarters of Rolpa, to Ghartigaun looks like a chain of small muddy ponds posing a threat to the safety of passengers and commuters. This has quite enraged the locals who had demanded that the 31 kilometers long road which was already in a dilapidated condition be repaired before rains further damage it.

According to Nanda Bahadur Pun, chairperson of Madi Rural Municipality, the road department was contacted a number of times and the concern expressed. However, the officials did not pay heed to the matter.

"The road construction or repair is not under our domain. It is done by the road department and a huge budget was spent for this road just sometime ago," Pun said. "But the road is out of service now; neither vehicles nor commuters - hardly anyone - can use it anymore. And angry locals come and shout at us," he added.

Pun further added that the road department and the department of physical infrastructure development have been playing a blame game for the sorry state of the road. As none of them are ready to take responsibility, the road is not going to come to shape anytime soon.

Meanwhile, chief administrative officer of Rolpa Narendra Kumar Rana stated that his office is serious about the matter. Talking to some locals recently, he said that he will take initiatives to repair the road.

Chief of the Road Division, Rolpa, Binod Sapkota however declined to comment. A government engineer Deepak Khadka, who's supposed to take care of roads in Rolpa expressed ignorance over the issue as 'he came to the field just a few days ago'.

Thousands of people have been affected as the road is full of potholes and cracks. Locals have accused the local and federal governments of being indifferent to their miseries. "Rolpa is never a priority for the government; we need to create a huge pressure to draw their attention," said Mahesh Neupane, a local journalist. "If they repair a road timely, it doesn’t take much money and effort. But the responsible bodies are so negligent that they wait until things get worse," he added.