If the work had been done as per the contract agreement, the Butwal-Narayangadh road section would have been open for traffic. It normally takes about 3 hours to traverse this 113-kilometer highway. However, during normal rains and cold waves, it takes up to 8-9 hours to cross the Daunne area on the same section.

Binod Pariyar of Butwal was returning home from Kathmandu on 15th Poush. He reached Dumkibas at 10 pm and it took him 10 hours to cover half of the 7 kilometers of the Daunne section (up to the Daunne temple).

Then, Pariyar and some passengers walked towards Bardaghat. Due to traffic jams and muddy roads, it was not easy for the passengers to even walk. It took them two hours to reach Bardaghat. Then, they took another vehicle towards Butwal. 

‘It took 12 hours to cover the 14 kilometers of the road. The road is muddy and potholed, so it is not easy to even walk on foot,’ said Pariyar. ‘Between the forest and the mountains, there is neither food to buy nor a place to defecate. How long will the passengers have to endure this suffering? Where is the government, what is it doing!’

This suffering has been experienced by passengers traveling on the Daunne section time and again. Passengers going to Rupandehi to the west and Chitwan to the east from Daunne section reach their destination by another vehicle, even if they have to walk for some time. However, long-distance passengers have no choice. They are forced to sit in traffic jams for two days. Children and the elderly are even more punished for traveling on this road section.

The suffering of passengers and drivers traveling in this area is the same. Driver Kiran Giri from Gulmi carries goods from markets and industries in the western region to Kathmandu. As soon as the road is jammed and there is a problem in vehicle operation on Daunne section, large vehicles including trucks are stopped at Bardaghat or Dumkibas.

Since first priority is given to passenger vehicles, freight vehicles are forced to stop at Daunne section for 4 days. Drivers of passenger vehicles have to face health problems due to dust while plying this road every day, and they have to suffer due to daily traffic jams and poor road conditions.

‘We have also suffered a lot along with the passengers. Dust gets inside all the vehicles,’ said Giri, ‘For seven consecutive years, dust has caused coughing and breathing problems while traveling on this section. If you do not wear a mask, you cannot drive.’

There is a fear of having to sit in traffic jams for hours and even during normal rains, the vehicle may slip. While traveling on this road section, you have to travel only with weather information. 

A constant torment for passengers

Since the work started during the expansion of the Narayangadh-Butwal road, the Daunne road section between Dumkibas and Bardaghat has been the most obstructed in the Daunne road section. According to the District Traffic Police Office, East Nawalparasi, the road has been obstructed 32 times in the Daunne section from 1 Shrawan 2082 to 20 Poush.

This also shows how difficult the journey on the Daunne road section is. Work is currently underway on the narrow road to build walls, culverts and slopes. Two-way traffic is plying on a road that was only designed to carry one-way traffic. The road is in a poor condition. There is also a problem of vehicles breaking down every day due to potholes, mud and dust. Even if large vehicles break down in two or three places, the road is one-way and there is a situation where they have to face long traffic jams.

‘The condition of the road is not good. Since it is a main highway, the traffic pressure is high,’ said Kushal Bartaula, Chief of the District Traffic Police Office, East Nawalparasi, ‘We are working to manage traffic as much as possible. To reduce the suffering of this section, accelerating the construction of the road is the long-term solution.’ 

Delay in work, government extends deadline again 

The road expansion work that was supposed to be completed in 40 months has not been completed even after 7 years (84 months). Due to which passengers and locals are suffering, the government has extended the deadline for the fourth time. Although the work was supposed to start in Chaitra 2075 and be completed in Shrawan 2079, the work has not been completed due to repeated extensions.

After the work did not pick up speed even during the first extension, the deadline was extended for the second time until 8 Shrawan 2081. However, after the work was not completed for the second time, the deadline was extended for the third time until 8 Shrawan 2082. After the work was not completed during that period, the deadline has now been extended until mid-Shrawan 2083. 

So far, only 74 percent of the work has been completed. The contract agreement has been signed by dividing the 114 km road project into 2 sections. The 65 km road from Gaindakot to Daunne in eastern Nawalparasi is being divided into two sections under Section 'A' and the 49 km from Daunne to Butwal is being divided into two sections. The highway is being expanded at a total cost of Rs 16.9952 billion with the help of a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Confusion in the design

There is still confusion over whether to blacktop or slope the 4-kilometer section of the Daunne section. The contract agreement was signed to blacktop the entire 4-kilometer eastern section and 10-kilometer western section of the Daunne section. However, later, when there were problems with the blacktop not holding up, washing away, and the road collapsing in Daunne, the plan was implemented by making a slope in the risk area.

So far, 2 km of the eastern section of the Daunne section has been sloped, while only 3 km out of 5 km of the western section has been blacktopped. Pashupati Gyawali, head of the Butwal Narayangadh Road Expansion Project Western Section, said that by the second week of Magh, a decision will be made on whether to blacktop or slope the 4-kilometer section.

‘Work is currently underway in Daunne. Even if the work on this section, which has seen problems in traffic operations, is accelerated, it will take some time for passengers to feel the work. He said that although the approval has been given for blacktop and slope on the 10-km section, discussions are underway on what to do in the 4-km section. “The departmental minister has also shown great interest in the work on this road section and we are aiming to complete the work on the Daunne section by Ashar after blacktop or slope after January,” Gyawali said.

In the Daunne section, except for the two culverts on the west side, the work on the remaining culverts and small and large bridges is in the final stage. The construction company, China State Corporation, is currently working on this section in two shifts.

The construction company’s engineer, Binit Koirala, said that the work is being completed by the end of January, which is working both day and night. After the work approved so far is completed, work will be done on the remaining four km as per the instructions given by the project. There is still confusion over the design of the road, so there is uncertainty about whether this work will be completed on time.

According to Engineer Bikash Khanal, Information Officer of the Narayangadh-Butwal Road Expansion Project, Western Section, the initial design was to blacktop all sections. ‘Later, due to the problem of water logging and road subsidence in the Daunne section, a proposal was made by the consulting company to slope some parts of the Daunne section,’ he said. ‘Accordingly, slope has been started in some sections and preparations are being made to work after getting the design approved in some sections.’

Suffering due to not considering an alternative 

Passengers have been suffering for years due to the lack of an alternative route to cross the Daunne area on the Butwal-Narayangadh road section. The state has not paid attention to the roads that can be used as alternatives. Although the Dadajor to Dumkibas section of Binayi Triveni Rural Municipality in eastern Nawalparasi can be upgraded as an alternative to this road section, the local, provincial and federal governments have not shown interest.

Although it is easy for small vehicles to cross the Daunne section through Bhutaha, Sanghart, Patuke, and Dadajor to reach Dumkibas, the journey is not easy due to the muddy and narrow roads. 

 Only 4 km of this 15-km-long road is blacktopped, while the rest of the road is unpaved and narrow, so only Scorpios and four-wheel jeeps are operating. This section cannot be used during the rains as there is no bridge over the Gangate river in the middle.

Although the Lumbini provincial government has taken forward work as an alternative route to Daunne, the work of widening the road has been delayed due to lack of sufficient budget. If work had been done on this section with diligence, there would not have been a situation where vehicles would have to stop and work on the Daunne section now. 

In the last 5 years, only 4 km from Bhutaha in Bardaghat to Aambas, which was taken as an alternative route, has been blacktopped. After that, no budget has been allocated for this section. 'The federal and provincial governments have not shown interest in the alternative route. "The local level alone cannot do this work," says Shambhulal Shrestha, mayor of Bardaghat Municipality. "If this road were to be upgraded, it would have been an alternative to the hilly tourism development and the Daunne section. Passengers would not have to suffer like this."