They have demanded thorough investigation into the factors that has delayed repairs on the road. Since a decade the commuters have been driving through the dilapidated road and the repairs have not been done even though during the past three years the government has already spent six million rupees on it."We can see that they are not using quality materials. The government has released budget for it, but it is being misused," Kripananda Jha, a local social worker said. "Substandard repairs using substandard construction materials are used in repairing the road. And this cannot happen unless government officials are working in their personal and contractors' interest,"
He said that the government had released budget for repairing the road after the locals suffered for a decade but expressed dissatisfaction towards the way it was done and lack of authorities to complain about it. "When you know government officials are working for their and contractor's personal vested interest, there is no point in complaining the same issue to them. The repairs are going to be just for namesake," Jha fumed.
Jha feels that bricks, gravel and other construction materials being used for the repairing the roads are of poor quality. He claimed that all the roads in the district were black topped using substandard material and asserted that these roads will return to their dilapidated state very soon.
Former president of Tilathi VDC Dineshwor Mishra stated that heavy vehicles have not passed through the road block for a long time now. And looking at the quality of ongoing repairs, he says he does not have hopes that the vehicle will be able to ply through it for long, even after the repairs complete.
Mishra accused contractors of not being serious to project deadlines and also went further to accuse government officials for not taking any actions against them. "The contractors are not cautious about deadline. Neither are they serious about the construction material. With nobody to hold them accountable, why should they worry about anything?" he questioned.
Two years ago, locals had tried to halt the construction but their efforts to bring the issue to the attention of concerned authorities and of the contractor did not succeed. "Locals had tried to stop the work two years ago after getting irritated with the snail paced work and substandard construction material. However they could not draw attention of the contractor or the concerned authorities to it and ultimately had to call off the protests as there was no point in debating with the laborers," said Rajesh Batsal, a social mobilizer in Tilathi VDC. "Contractors do not show up in the fields. The whole work is a real mess," he added.
Three years ago the road division had brought forth the plan to repair the road section and build a bridge over the Khando River, as vehicular movement along the road section would come to grinding halt frequently. Construction of the bridge is going on for the past two years but its completion remains uncertain.
AD builders and Pappu Sanjeevani, among others have received the contract of the projects. Locals accuse that none of the contractors have done their work properly. A group of locals have also filed complaint about it in District Administration Office.
Amar Rai of Tilathi - 9 shared that heavy vehicles have not plied on the Saptari - Rajbiraj road for many years. "This road links to the southern Indian border. This is our lifeline. But look at its condition!" Rai commented. He informed that the locals have to use the road for going to the Indian side for shopping and other purposes but the poor condition of the road has made it hard for them to commute.
Mishra claimed that by not repairing the road on time, the government has left the commuters to drive on a risky road for fulfilling their daily needs. "There's no choice than to travel through the road to buy necessary commodities. The road condition tells you everything, how risky it is!" he remarked. He added that the situation is worse during monsoon due to floods from the nearby river.
A civil society leader at Sakarpur VDC, Mishri Lal Mukhiya stated the local administration has turned deaf ear to the issue. Despite rounds of oral and written applications, the office has not listened to the public, he complained. "We have requested officials to take the matter seriously many times, but they have remained unmoved by our pleas. Road division officials prepare report from their cabins. Without visiting the site, how can they know the reality?" he complained. "They, of course, must have some sort of mutual understanding with the contractors," he accused, arguing that otherwise the officials should have taken action against the contractors.
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