Ilam/Tehrathum, Aug 7: Ganesh Rai, chairperson of Maijogmai Rural Municipality-4 issued a notice a month ago stating that tractor and heavy vehicles had been banned on dirt roads. The notice stated that the roads were in a poor state owing to the heavy rainfall and therefore his office was restricting heavy vehicles to avoid accidents.
Restricting tractors from operating on the road during monsoon is not new thing here. During the season, heavy vehicles are banned to operate on several roads of the district. In the past locals used to issue such notices. However, this time, the ward chairperson did it considering the dilapidated condition of the roads.
Road maintenance and widening was one of the top priorities of Maijogmai Rural Municipality in the fiscal year 2074/75. To achieve its target, the rural municipality invested millions of rupees in related projects. However, considering the condition of the roads, locals claim that investment in the projects did not provide relief to them. Like every monsoon, the locals are forced to face hassles in transportation. Locals say that it is very sad to see a ward chairperson restricting vehicular movement in the locality due to poor condition of the roads.
Deumai Municipality of Ilam also aimed to do everything possible to improve road conditions in the past fiscal year. Upgrading existing roads and widening them to ten meters had remained a hot discussion topic in towns and villages of the municipality. The municipality had pitched wide roads as the hallmark of development and pledged to do everything possible to upgrade existing roads. Since local government came into existence, people pinned high hopes on it. However, now, roads in the municipality look no better than paddy fields. Whether it is newly opened tracks or old roads, their condition is almost the same. Vehicles cannot be operated on most of the municipality’s roads.
Naagdhunga road full of potholes again
Sandakpur Rural Municipality of the same district offers no better transportation services. This rural municipality had also prioritized repairing and constructing roads for the past fiscal year. It also made investments to repair roads. Still its roads are also not in a condition for small or heavy vehicles to ply. Both repaired and ‘yet to be repaired’ roads have succumbed to the monsoon. Locals here also call their roads paddy fields.
Transportation blues is common in the eastern hill every monsoon. No sooner than it begins to rain, vehicles are restricted from operating in most of the rural roads. Unlike in the past, locals this year expected it to be different considering the fact that they had local government, which was investing in improving the roads. The result, however, is quite disappointing.
“Until before the monsoon begun, local representatives were working a lot. They were moving excavators everywhere, widening roads, opening new tracks, doing this and that,” remarked Girshma Subba, a local of Ilam. Subba, who has long been associated with transport entrepreneurs, added that the efforts have been in wrong direction.
“You see now, all the roads are blocked. What kinds of roads do we have, which are blocked when the monsoon arrives?” he asked.
Excavators were massively mobilized for expanding and repairing roads in the hills during the last few months. According to locals, the competition to open new tracks or widen the old ones got mileage last fiscal year, too. “It seems that they were competing for gobbling up the budget instead of improving the roads. If they had worked honestly, we would not be suffering now,” said a local requesting anonymity. He added that the leaders should have a firm conviction and commitment to improve the condition of the roads.
The sorry road condition of the road has hit the farmers hard. Their productions do not reach market on time. According to Subba, they suffered same problems in the past years and nothing changed this year either.
“Bad roads affect everyone but it hits you harder when you have to travel to sell your stuffs,” he said.
Bad roads alone are not the only challenge that the locals are facing. Landslides have made things even worse. “Our connection with the headquarters is almost cut off. There is no way to reach there,” Subba stated. “If you try to take vehicles through the roads, the wheels get stuck in the mud. It’s impossible to get through,” he added.
Amid this, Suryodaya Municipality has however tired to work differently. Instead of working simultaneously in several roads and not ensuring quality of not even one, the municipality has brought forth the conception of ‘one ward one road’. According to its mayor, Rana Bahadur Rai, they have aimed to have sustainable roads. “In one ward, in one year, we will be working on just one road. And that road should have excellent quality, where you can move safely all seasons,” he said.
