Sorry state of Mirchaiya-Ghurmi road draws commuters’ ire

By Our Correspondent,Gaighat, Feb. 26: Siddhicharan Highway traverses through the diverse landscapes of Terai and Himalayas, seamlessly connecting the picturesque districts of Siraha, Udayapur, Khotang, Okhaldhunga, and Solukhumbu. 

However, despite its significance, the 169-km-long highway's overall condition is far from desirable. The stretch from Mirchaiya in Siraha to Ghurmi in Udayapur stands out as a stark example of the extreme level of devastation that the road has endured.

Traveling along the Mirchaiya-Ghurmi section, which is 72-km long, is dangerous. Transport entrepreneurs operating along the route said that a couple of accidents along the section was common.

The section hasn’t been such devastated always. Earlier, the section was blacktopped. But now, even a small asphalt is nowhere to be seen throughout the journey, and that has been the case for years now.

“There are potholes, dust fills the road everywhere. The road goes up and down along the difficult landscape. The risk of the vehicle tilting is always high,” said Nabaraj Shahi, a transport operator along the route. Because of the poor road infrastructure, the cost of transporting goods high.  

“Locals are having to pay exorbitant price for a normal good as the transportation cost has increased due to poor road,” said Gopi Parajuli, a social activist from Katari.

Locals blame the rampant movement of tippers loaded with construction materials along the road for its sorry state.

“More than 1,500 tippers routinely carry construction materials, including limestone, causing road to cave in at multiple places. Such daily activities have caused potholes to appear everywhere along the road,” said Pushkar Khadka, president of Udayapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Khadka said that the weight limit of the road was 10 tonnes but that the tippers were carrying load exceeding that limit. 

The highway allows people to travel to Solukhumbu, the district with Mt. Everest, and Khotang, the district with Halesi Mahadev aka East’s Pashupatinath. If the road was improved, locals and businessmen argue that the number of tourists would increase rapidly in the areas along the highway.

Locals of all the five districts have been pressing all three tiers of the government and political leaders to allocate enough budget to upgrade the highway to provide an easy transportation service for the public.

Meanwhile, talking to The Rising Nepal, lawmakers from different districts assured that they were requesting the government and concerned authorities to repair and upgrade the Siddhicharan Highway.

Ambar Bahadur Rayamajhi, the elected representative to the House of Representatives (HoR) from Udayapaur-2; Manbir Rai, the elected representative to the HoR from Solukhumbu; Ram Hari Khatiwada, HoR member elected from Okhaldhunga; and Ram Kumar Rai, HoR member elected from Khotang assured that they were pressing the concerned authorities to prioritise the highway in the budget allocation.

According to Katari Municipality Mayor Rajesh Chandra Shrestha, the road track from Mirchaiya to Katari was opened in 1977 and the road reached Ghurmi after the Nepali Army constructed the road in 2001.