The road in the Hetauda market area is to be widened. The Road Division Office, Hetauda, ​​has intensified preparations to widen the road by removing structures within the road boundary (25/25 yards) of the Hetauda market area under the Mahendra Highway and Tribhuvan Highway.

For a long time, there has been a dispute between homeowners, traders and government machinery over the issue of road expansion in the Hetauda market area. However, this time, after receiving the necessary coordination between government machinery and the support of the federal government, the Road Division is preparing to expand the road by demolishing the existing structures in the market.

According to the Road Division, the road will be expanded by demolishing 531 houses and structures located within 25/25 yards on the right and left of the Mahendra Highway and Tribhuvan Highway from Buddha Chowk to Samari Bridge (3.2 km) in Hetauda-15. 234 houses and huts will be demolished on the right side of the road and 297 houses and huts on the left side.

'We have already done the marking work for the road expansion.' We have arranged the necessary manpower and heavy equipment.', Guru Prasad Adhikari, Chief of Road Division Office, Makawanpur, said that the road is being expanded without compensation and compensation as the physical structures built within 25 yards of both highways have been deemed encroachment based on the Road Act 2021.

Although notices have been published repeatedly since 2073 BS to clear the road boundary, the process was stopped due to writs filed by stakeholders in the High Court and the Supreme Court. However, the legal obstacle was removed after the Supreme Court dismissed the case 080-WO-0050 filed on 2080 Pus 17 and the complaint including the demand for the demotion of 14 people. 'The Supreme Court has clearly explained that compensation cannot be claimed for structures built within 25/25 yards from the road center. Due to this, the way has been opened to remove the encroachment.', he clarified that preparations are being made to proceed according to the law if the homeowners and businessmen do not clear the shutters within the specified time.

The process was started by publishing a notice for the first time on 2073/Asar 17, but the work could not proceed due to the interim order of the then Supreme Court, the chief officer of the division office said. Now that the legal hurdle has been removed, he said that a notice has been issued to remove the permanent and temporary structures built encroaching on the road.

A notice has been published again in Gorkhapatra on Mangsir 5 as per the Public Roads Act, 2031 to clear the road boundary. The last date to clear the boundary is till Mangsir 19. The Roads Division has issued a public notice to the stakeholders to remove the structures within the specified time. The Roads Division has stated that if the structures are not removed within the specified time, the Roads Division will remove them using a dozer.

It is claimed that the long-standing dispute over Hetauda road expansion will end after Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development Kulman Ghising met with the local police, administration and public representatives to make necessary arrangements for road expansion. The Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a joint organization of businessmen, met Minister Ghising and urged him to immediately stop the road expansion and widen the road by 16 meters and construct a bypass road. However, in the month of Falgun, the government informed that preparations for inviting tenders to widen the Narayangadh-Hetauda and Pathlaiya-Hetauda road sections were in the final stages and urged businessmen to cooperate. Following his request, the businessmen quietly returned to Hetauda from Kathmandu.