Sanfe-Martadi highway still out of operation

By Sher Bahadur Sarki

Bajura, Oct 2 : The Sanfe-Martadi Highway, which has been blocked for a long time due to landslides, has not been operational yet. Even though the road construction work has been accelerated so as to bring it into operation before the beginning of the Dashain, the condition of the road is very poor.

Dal Bahadur Saud, a local resident of Mana, Badimalika Municipality of Bajura, said that the Sanfe-Martadi Highway of Bajura, which has been blocked since last June due to landslides, has remained so for four months, and the locals have to suffer a lot even to go there.

“We locals suffer everyday and the travelers who visit their places on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar would have to suffer for travelling this year,” he said, adding that even though the work progressed rapidly to bring the road into operation before Dashain, unfortunately it remained unsettled till now.

However, the authorities in the district have their own logic of not completing the road on time. Diwas Basnet, Head of Road Division Office, Achham, said that frequent landslides on Balde Amkot road, which falls under Sanfe-Martadi road section, have destroyed the road there where it is very difficult to work.

“Rain just stopped and we will complete remaining task within few days by removing the rubble on the road.” 

According to him, the road will be put into operation before the tenth day of Dashain. 

But the landslide has not stopped yet and it is very difficult to work. The roads of these villages, which were temporarily constructed, were badly damaged by the continuous rains last fall. As the road has not been operational for a long time, the locals have to suffer a lot while transporting their daily necessities to the village. 

According to Basanta Basnet, another local resident, last year the long-distance vehicles coming from Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi, Attaria, were resumed at Martadi which has been stopped earlier this year. It was another reason people in Badimalika, Gaumul, Budhinanda Swamikartik, Jagannath and Himali Rural Municipality were suffering. 

Locals were complaining that the leaders of the political parties who talked about road leveling in the open forum in Ramatadi did not show much interest in the construction of this road. It is the third reason Sanfe-Martadi Highway remains blocked. 

District Administration Office, Bajura has informed that there is a lot of difficulty in opening the road due to continuous rain in Bajura. 

Prakash Chandra Adhikari, Chief District Officer of District Administration Office, Bajura said that even as the time of Dashain and Tihar is approaching, the road remains blocked, so they have been writing to the Road Division Office Achham repeatedly to open the blocked road at the earliest.