Last Tuesday, when a car number BAA 0017 was going from Chandrakot in Gulmi to Butwal, it was swept away by the Dahare river at Satyavati-6 in Gulmi. Three passengers escaped by jumping out. The car got stuck in a ditch 50 meters below.

The same river washed away a jeep numbered Lu 1 J 3432 going from Butwal to Bamitaksar on October 1, 2078. Although the passengers got down earlier and saved their lives, the car disappeared in Badigad river.

The problem of blocking the road every day during the rainy season is common for the travelers here. Because when the vehicle moves on the mud, it flows along with the mud. Sometimes the dozers have to pull the vehicle to cross it and sometimes they wait for a long time after the water stops and go to the destination.

Even though vehicles do not run like in Dahar, Nadeva, Dahar and Bharsekhola in the same road section are blocked for a long time after floods. Bridges under construction on all four rivers have been stalled due to lack of budget allocation to pay installments of the contract. Bhagwat Giri, head of construction company Rajeshwari Lumbini JV, said that by the time the bridge was completed, only Rs 5 crore had been paid until the bridge was signed by Road Division Office Palpa at a cost of Rs 220 crore.

"The 40-meter long bridge of Dahare Khola has been sloped. If there is money, it can be built for vehicles to drive in a week. The work of the pillars of the other 3 bridges has been completed, but there is no money for slope," he says. The term of the contract is only until this July. He says that although there is a record that he has completed other construction works ahead of time and submitted them, as no budget was given for those bridges, he could not pay for them only with bank loans. He said that the bill for the fourth running bill amounting to 76 million 16 thousand 411 rupees was submitted to the Divisional Road Office in Palpa last June but has not been paid yet. But Giri says that there is no budget to pay the bill.

'A total of 60 million has been allocated for this financial year. We had to wait until 2083 to get the payment of the last year's bill,' he says, 'How will we do the rest of the work when the amount of the old running bill has not been paid?'

Engineer Durga Gautam, information officer of the road division office Palpa, says that there is a problem when the budget is not coming as per the work. "There is no delay in the work, 85 percent of Dahra and 50 percent of the four bridges have been completed. But we could not pay the builders," Gautam said. "Last year's payment is only about 70 million, this year's budget is 60 million, if there is no more, this budget will not be enough to pay the rest of last year." "At least we have sent a file that new work could have been done from the 60 million allocated this year if the payment of the balance of last year was arranged," he said. According to Gautam, there is a commitment from the builders to complete the work this year if there is a budget. He said that the plan is to complete it by next Dasain, if only the access road to the Dahare River is to be built, as the vehicle will be able to drive.