[Archive] Okhaldhunga road plowed by Girijaprasad

चैत्र १०, २०८१

कान्तिपुर संवाददाता

[Archive] Okhaldhunga road plowed by Girijaprasad

To deliver household goods to Okhaldhunga, porters and Dhakre from Katari in Udaipur had to be paid Rs 10 per kg. Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu could be seen walking around. Porters were seen sitting heavily in places.

On the way, they cooked rice and rice and ate it. The residents of that area thought that the idea of ​​connecting the village with road network and reaching home by car was like a daydream.

After the political change of 2046, a plan was made to build Katari-Okhaldhunga road to connect that part with road transport . The then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced that the road will be built by the Royal Nepali Army. According to the decision of the government, Girija Prasad laid the foundation stone of the Katari-Okhaldhunga road on 25 Baisakh 2050 with a spade to implement the plan to build the road by the army. 

The road was called Kosedhunga for Okhaldhunga, Solu, Udaipur, Sindhuli and Khotangbasi. The residents of that area were happy that the construction of the road would remove the burden from their heads. 

Prime Minister Koirala discussed that such roads will contribute greatly to the promotion of industries in the country. Koirala called upon the local residents to help build the road. He said that the construction of the road will help greatly in the process of nation building.

It was intended to use local tools such as spade, sawel, ghan, chino etc. to build the road. At that time, only a motor could go up to Katari. The Katari-Okhaldhunga road, which was constructed by the Nepalese army with an investment of 1 billion 566 million rupees, was 105 km long. It was planned to deploy 1,500 soldiers at a time to build the said road.

Road construction was started in Sunkoshi with the aim of completing 218 meters long motorable bridge, 17 small bridges and culverts in maximum 8 years . In the first financial year, 20 crores were allocated for roads. Prime Minister Koirala, then Physical Planning Minister Bal Bahadur Rai, Chief of Army Staff Gadul Shamsher Rana and others discussed the contribution of road construction to the development of the country at the foundation stone laying of the road.

Army had earlier constructed Trishuli and Sallaghari Nagarkot roads. The decision to use the army in road construction was viewed positively. Hile-Bhojpur road was also planned to be constructed by the army. Chief of Army Staff Rana gave the information about providing additional facilities for incentives such as extra salary and clothing to the soldiers who are working to build roads. 

The road that will be built by deploying the army to cover the Himalayan and difficult districts was seen as an important plan after the multi-party system was achieved. Kantipur daily published a news on the first page titled "Katari-Okhaldhunga road foundation stone" on 26 Baisakh 2050 covering the laying of the road and related references.

presentation: Rishiram Paudyal

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