To cross the 42 km from Bajura headquarters Martadi to Kolti, one has to change vehicles at 6 places, and the fare to cross the said distance is up to 2000 rupees. Similarly, transportation of food and daily consumables has stopped in Saipal Rural Municipality of Bajhang due to the destruction of the footpath due to landslides.
What you should know
Landslides in Bajura and Bajhang, two remote hilly districts of the Far West, have blocked roads and canals, and the locals have to suffer. In Bajura, the road work which should have been tarred four years ago is not completed, so the passengers have to change up to 6 vehicles with high fares. On the other hand, due to the blockage of the Goretto landslide leading to Saipal Rural Municipality of Bajhang, there is a shortage of consumables due to the inability to transport goods for the past one and a half months.
To cross 42 km from Bajura headquarter Martadi to Kolti, there is a compulsion to change vehicles at 6 places . To cross that distance, the fare is up to 2000. Due to landslides in dozens of places in this section, vehicles traveling from Martadi cannot reach Kolti directly. This is the main road for the movement of residents of 13 local levels of Mugu, Humla and Kalikot in Karnali along with Budhinanda Municipality of Bajura and Swamikartik Khapar, Himali and Jagannath Rural Municipality. Due to broken roads in places, it is necessary to change the vehicle at 6 places from Martadi to reach Kolti.
One from Martadi to Bahuli river, from Bahuli to Anai river and after crossing Anai, you have to take another car from there to Jilli. Rajatoli is reached by the third train from Jilli. After crossing the Rajatoli landslide on foot, you have to travel in the fourth vehicle to reach Bhasupatal. To reach from Bhasupatal to Dansanghu, you have to change the fifth vehicle . From there, crossing the suspension bridge, walking across the river and reaching the Pallo bank of Baddigad, there is a situation of having to join the sixth vehicle to reach Kolti Bazar. Locals said that it takes a whole day to reach 42 km Kolti.
Jeep businessmen have been charging 1000 fares to reach from Anai river to Dansanghu . Zip counters at Martadi and Dansanghu collect tickets. They are the ones who arrange the rent for the vehicle to be changed in the middle. Apart from that, if you take a car from Martadi to Bahuli, it costs 500 and if you take a jeep from Dansanghu to Kolti, it costs another 500. "We charge a fare of 1000 from Anai to Dansanghu," said Manoj Bohra, a representative of the Jeep counter at Martadi.
As major festivals such as Dasain-Tihar are approaching, the number of passengers on this road has increased . But passengers are suffering due to the condition of the road. Bohra says that the poor condition of the Martadi-Kolti road section in Bajura, which is ranked 77th in the Human Development Index, is always a pain for the passengers. If the work was completed on time, passengers would be able to travel easily from this road 2078. This condition of the road has come because the construction company did not work on time.
Under Martadi-Piluchaur section, 5 km Baniyan-Kusheshwar JV from Chuthi to Dhamne and 26 km from Dhamne to Kolti kinar Dansanghu PS-Baniyan-Kusheshwar JV has taken the contract of road blackening . Baniyan-Kusheshwar JV signed an agreement on October 9, 2016 with the condition that 5 km of blacktop from Chuthi to Dhamne would be completed on June 17, 2078. Despite extending the deadline four times, the work has not been completed . Infrastructure Development Office Achham has informed that the contract period has been extended till Baisakh 30, 083. Engineer Devi Upadhyay of Infrastructure Development Office Achham said that this section has been contracted for 121 million 178 thousand 497.
PS-Bania JV has also taken the contract of 26 km road from Dhamkne which is 14 km away from Martadi to Dansanghu on Kolti shore which is 40 km away. The company that signed the contract on June 29, 2007 was required to complete it within June 16, 2008. According to the office, the contract period has been extended for the third time until June 20 084 in the contract agreement at 50 million 16 lakh 95 thousand 456. The director of this company was Indra Bahadur Baniyan, who is currently the Chief Minister of Bagmati Province. Rishiraj Baniyan claimed that he was the owner of the construction company for three years. Rishiraj said that the deadline had to be extended due to the problem of the road leading to the construction site, due to the Corona period. He said that it was difficult to work at the beginning because there was no road or bridge leading to the construction site. "Now it is a problem to take diesel due to monsoons." Machines and technicians are at the construction site, we have prepared to be able to work on the extended deadline," he said.
The Martadi-Kolti-Piluchaur road started from 076/077 is a multi-year plan of the Sudurpaschim Province government. The employees of the Infrastructure Development Office, Achham, have been saying that the contractor company has not heard from them even after writing dozens of times. "After cutting the letter dozens of times, they are not afraid," Engineer Upadhyay said, "The deadline is being extended from above."
The construction work of the first package from Martadi to Chuthi which is 9 km has been completed on 081 June 1 . Dhulikhel, Galwa and Shyam & Shankar JV Construction Company signed an agreement on 05 October 2016 for an amount of 20 crores 61 lakhs 46 thousand 240. Janak Kumar Bohra, Mayor of Budhinanda Municipality, says that if the construction company has the willpower, the company has proved that it can work on time.
'Even if we had money, we could not get into the car . It is not possible for the municipality to improve the road by spending so much,'' says Mayor Bohra, 'this is extreme negligence.' Amar Bahadur Khadka, head of Badimalika Municipality in Martadi, says that Sanotino Pahero Municipality is trying to set aside the traffic operation. Residents of North-Eastern region of Bajura and Humla, Mugu and Kalikot of Karnali are suffering due to road blockage. If patients are brought to the headquarters for treatment, there is no ambulance operation. Engineer Upadhyay of Infrastructure Development Office Acham says that efforts will be made to repair the road before Dasain.
Goreto first and foremost, food transportation stopped in Saipal for one and a half months
Due to the destruction of the footpath due to the landslide, the transportation of food and daily consumables has stopped in Saipal Rural Municipality of Bajhang. Since the onset of rains, there has been a shortage of food and daily consumables for about one and a half months due to the collapse of roads in dozens of places.
People, mules and sheep transport the footpath to this place and the goods could not be transported after the landslide blocked it in some places. ``There is a risk for a person to walk on a mule.'' Vasant Bohra of Saipal-2 Dhalaun said, "There is also a shortage of goods like rice, soap, and oil in the village." He said that he had to walk for 10 hours because the road from Angar in Danotnot Rural Municipality to Samdeu in Saipal is a 6-hour walk. "We have only 6 kg of rice left, we don't know how long it will last for three people," said Harish Awasthi, an employee of Everest Bank in Saipal Rural Municipality, "We are looking for rice anywhere in the village." We have not met yet.' He said that most of the houses in Saipal have run out of rice and it is difficult to even get food.
In Lisnigad, Angar, Jadlek, and Saipal's Ganai, Samdeu, etc., large rocks have fallen on the road due to landslides. In some places, landslides have erased the name of the walking path. "Since people are unable to walk, we villagers have worked together to repair the road from Ganai to Samdeu and make it walkable," said Narendra Dhami, Chairman of Ward-1, Spokesperson of Saipal Rural Municipality. It is not possible to repair the road without machines.
From Dhalaun, a village at the entry point of Saipal, which has five wards, to reach the last human settlement in the northern region of the district, one has to walk for two to three more days. Kinthya Rokaya of Dhuli said that even though the locals of the nearby villages took the risk, they used to carry a small amount of daily consumables including rice on their backs from the wells of the bottom, which is a day's walk away, but this is not possible in the northern villages. "Everything is lacking now." Many people don't even have rice to make akshata in their houses,' he said, 'the month of August, when there is a lot of rain, is left. If the road is not opened, we are afraid that we will starve.'
Even though the road cutting started from Jadlek, the border area of Saipal rural municipality, the landslides started making it difficult for people to walk. When the dozer digs the road on the steep land, people, mules and sheep are walking in the landslide.
Saipal rural municipality ex-chairman Rajendra Dhami said that when a landslide occurs from above the road, the risk to people walking on the road also increases. It is the path our ancestors have walked for generations. "This has never happened before," he said, "In some places, the stones piled up while cutting the road have caused landslides." In many places, the road has become impassable due to landslides from above the road. If the road is closed during the rainy season, there may be starvation in the entire municipality.'' He alleged that the number of landslides has also increased due to the fact that the road was cut after ignoring the detailed project report (DPR) approved during the construction of the road.
Last June, the last lot of rice provided by the Nepal government through the food system company reached Saipal and after that the rice could not be transported, said Manvir Bohra, chairman of the rural municipality. "Dasain is approaching, there is a shortage of rice due to damaged roads, there is not much rice transportation," he said. This problem will be solved within a few days.' He said that the municipality has mobilized three/four teams in coordination with the ward office to repair the road, so the problem will be solved soon.
