National
First phase of East-West postal road complete
The Indian government has completed the first phase of construction of the East-West Postal Road in Kailali district.Mohan Budhair
Indian firm, GR Gawat, was contracted to construct the 61.7 km road from Dhangadi to Bhajani and Satti to Khakraula in the first phase. The firm’s engineer, Satish Kumar, said 43 km road has been completed in Kailali.
With the construction of the road, people from Pawera VDC in the district will now be able to make a round-trip to district headquarters Dhangadi within a day. Earlier, it took them an entire day just to make a one-way trip.
Local Bhagat Chaudhary said he was able to travel to Dhangadi with his daughter to acquire her citizenship card and return home within a day. Before the postal road was constructed, Chaudhary said they had to make at least a three-day plan to visit Dhangadi and return to Pawera.
While earlier, district headquarters was 80 km from Hasuliya VDC via the East-West Highway, the distance has been shortened to 31 km after the construction of the postal road. Every day, eight to nine public buses ply the road and they charge Rs100 as travelling fare.
Deep Chaudhary, who operates a photo studio at Hasuliya Bazar, also shared his excitement over the construction of the postal road. He said his business has increased by 50 percent. Likewise, another businessman of Hasuliya Fulan Kathariya said that local goods have replaced imported goods from India as district headquarters has become accessible now.
Local farmers said that they have benefited by the road as they can transport their produce to the headquarters Dhangadi quickly and easily.
Thanks to the postal road, Devlal Dagaura, a local farmer, earned over Rs 20,000 by selling potatoes in Dhangadi recently.
Villages which were remote before the completion of the postal road have witnessed increase in activity in recent days. Fulbari village, which is 20 km from Dhangadi, has become a popular residential site for citizens of Dhangadi. Local Ramesh Basnet said that land plotting has surged in the area after the road link was established.
Though the first phase of the road has been completed, the Indian firm has said that the project is facing delays because of Nepal Government. “The government has not removed trees from Basanta forest and has not build bridges at several places,” said Satish Kumar, the firm’s engineer.
Mahendra Raj Panta of Nepal’s Division Road Office said that out of 11 bridges for the road, five are in final stages of completion.
Meanwhile, the construction of the postal road has caused floodings in southern part of the road. “As the road has been constructed 2 metres above ground level, water cannot flow past it in several places leading to inundation of nearby settlements,” Man Bahadur Saud of Bhajani-4 said.