Sarlahi, Aug 3: Construction of a section of the Postal Highway in the Sarlahi district has been almost stagnant with no progress in sight for a long time now.
The construction of the road section stretching 40.37
kilometers in the district was initiated years ago but much to the dismay of
the locals, it remains to be constructed efficiently and was far from
completion.
The contract was awarded to Hindunga and Thokar Hira and
Namita JV and Hindunga and Thokar Saha Constriction Services and Diva
Construction Services to build this stretch of the Postal Highway in 2073 BS at
a cost of Rs 640 million within five years.
Although the construction company has already
obtained Rs 320 million for the construction, the condition of the road remains
the same.
Kapil Mahato, a local in Godaita Municipality,
bemoaned that they had been facing great difficulties due to the sorry state of
the road section. He described, "We must go by the Postal Highway wherever
we want to go.
The construction work related to the road section is sluggish and on the other hand, the already constructed road sections were dilapidated."
The 1,792-km Highway is considered to be a vital road
for the Terai region as it connects almost all of the districts in the region
stretching from Jhapa in the east to Kanchanpur in the west, including
Sarlahi.
According to Mahato, due to the poor condition of the
roads, they were compelled to travel through the dust in winters and mud in the
monsoon.
Chief District Officer in Sarlahi, Thaneshwor Gautam,
shared that the stakeholders had been holding meetings with contractor
companies time and again and following up on the matter but, he added, the
contractor companies had been ignoring them. (RSS)