In the first week of January, there was a competition among the leaders-activists of Bajhang to post pictures taken with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on social media. After the leader posted a picture of a memorandum claiming that he had succeeded in budgeting on the Chainpur-Taklakot road, which is considered to be the road to prosperity in the far west, the walls of social media were painted for almost a week with activists reposting it with praise.

UML leaders-activists were more active in the competition. The Maoist leader-activist was posting with the claim that the budget was introduced when Pushpa Kamal Dahal was the Prime Minister and not the current government. The Congress leader also seemed to be trying to confirm that there is an initiative to budget by posting the memorandum submitted by him.

In such posts, there was also a picture of the details of the projects that had been granted resource consent and published by the Budget and Program Division of the Ministry of Finance. In point number 5 of which, it is mentioned that one billion amount of resources have been agreed under the title of Dhangadhi-Khutia-Dipayal-Chainpur-Uraibhanjang Road Plan BPnagar. They claimed that since the amount was allocated for the Chainpur-Taklakot road, the road dream of connecting Bajhang to China would be fulfilled. Judging by the hype on social media, there is no shortage of budget for the Chainpur-Taklakot road, it is in the process of completion . This claim made by the

leaders was false. This amount was not allocated for the Chainpur-Taklakot road but for the construction of Dhangadhi to Doti BPnagar road on the Seti Lokmarg. There is no new budget on the Chainpur-Taklakot road. The budget of the old contract has also decreased," says Birendra Yadav, head of the Chainpur-Taklakot road office under the Seti Lokmarg section, "the file submitted for the new budget was not approved. He says that even though the office has sent the file to the Ministry of Finance through the relevant departments and ministries, the file has not been approved. It is not sure why the budget did not come. It can happen even without reaching political access," he said.

This is not the first time that the leader of Bajhang, who dreams of Taklakot road in every election and asks for votes, has shown his quickness in the name of this road . From the head of the municipality to the deputy head of the state parliamentarian, speaker, federal parliamentarian and ministers sometimes monitoring the construction site with lavalaskar and sometimes submitting a demand letter to the minister-prime minister for speedy road construction is seen on social media month after month .

_{Construction of Chainpur-Taklakot road is being done in Dunivan area of ​​Diyanot Rural Municipality. Photo: Vasant Pratap/Kantipur}

From the district to the central leader, the topic of this road is rarely missed in speeches and interviews. Leaders and high-ranking officials visiting Bajhang from the center also share assurances that they will emphasize on the construction of this road. There is no progress in this project which can give dimensions to the development of Far West Province. At a distance of about 100 km from the headquarters of Chainpur, this road connects the border with China, and only 18 km of unpaved road runs till Rupatola of Danot Rural Municipality. From there to Dhuli in Saipal, 40 kilometers of road construction work can be completed within two years, so far 19 kilometers of tracks have been opened in the contract awarded in 2074.

The construction company Swachhand Baniyan Nagarjuna JV has not been able to build even after the expiry of the contract which was extended for the second time. The contract which was extended for the second time expired last November. The company that signed the contract at a cost of 85 crores has already received 700 crores from the government. Earlier, the construction company said that there was a delay due to the geography of the construction site, weather, internal problems, but this time, the construction company has blamed it on the non-availability of explosives on time.

"Initially we thought that we could open the track with machines, later we needed explosives," said Rishi Baniyan, the representative of the company, "Because explosives like other construction materials are difficult to get easily, the work has been delayed."

This company has not done any work for almost a year due to various reasons, although it restarted from last October when the contract was about to expire, the speed is very slow . Locals estimate that it will take four to five years to open the track up to Dhuli if the work is done at this speed. Leaders have made this road the main agenda, but locals are dissatisfied with the slow pace of construction.

"Taklakot road has become like a pot to spread confusion and politicize the budget that came to Dhangadhi as being in Bajhang," says social worker Kalak Khatri, "It makes me angry to see leaders who don't tire of calling Taklakot in social media and speeches but don't care about budget assurance and work progress." Tell .