According to the Division Road Office, this route will end at Malekhu in Dhading via Bhandara in Chitwan. The length of the road, which connects two districts and two highways, is 66 kilometers.
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The Chepang road, which was started from Bhandara in Chitwan to Malekhu in Dhading a decade and a half ago, is incomplete. The Chepang road, which connects two important Mahendra and Prithvi Highways in the country, is like a deserted road. The construction of this road was started on the initiative of the then Finance Minister Surendra Pandey. The road cuts through the hill villages inhabited by the marginalized Chepang people.
As the construction has not picked up speed, transportation in the hill settlements has not been easy. It has been five years since Raj Tamang here started driving a pickup van on this road. His vehicle number BAP 01 CH 0922 now plies only half the section. Locals also travel in vehicles carrying goods. Since they have to go from the main road to the interior, they travel two/three times a day on the 35/40 kilometer road. Currently, 11 kilometers of the road is blacktopped. The road is easy up to Hattidhap. After that, it's difficult. According to the Division Road Office, this route ends at Malekhu in Dhading via Bhandara in Chitwan. The length of the road connecting two districts and two highways is 66 kilometers. The construction of this road was started after UML leader Pandey was the Finance Minister in the budget speech of 2066 BS. Pandey, who used to travel between Bhandara and Malekhu on foot, had initiated a road construction plan to bring development to remote areas. Even after 16 years of work, the dream of the locals to easily cross the remote and difficult terrain under the road has not been realized. The Wasbang Chepang settlement is located on the side of this road. Bivas Chepang of Wasbang said that the leaders only show hope that they will provide facilities. ‘When will this road be completed?’ he said, ‘We are forced to travel on foot looking at the incomplete road.’ According to the Division Roads, there are 36 kilometers of road on the Chepang route towards Chitwan and 30 kilometers towards Dhading. The work of opening the road track was completed 13 years ago. Even though the track has been opened, the blacktop is being done at a snail’s pace due to the low budget for the upgrading work.
The Division Roads had demanded one billion rupees for this route in the current fiscal year. However, only three crore rupees were received. ‘We blacktopped 1,450 meters of road with that amount,’ said Milan Ghatani, site engineer of the Division Roads. ‘Before that, a total budget of around 1 crore rupees was received.’ The office has demanded 500 million rupees for the next fiscal year. Ghatani said that if the money comes as per the demand, an additional eight kilometers of road can be blacktopped. ‘If sufficient budget is available, the remaining sections would be upgraded,’ he said, ‘If there is a budget, the road can be made easier by working.’
13/13 kilometers of the route towards Chitwan and Dhading are now blacktopped. The old section of the road, which was promoted as an alternative to the Narayangadh-Muglin road, is five and a half meters wide and the new section is seven meters wide. Initially, the initial plan was to expand the Narayangadh-Muglin road after completing the road construction.
The expansion of the Narayangadh-Muglin road began in 2072 BS and was completed in three and a half years. The Bhandara-Malekhu Chepang road, which was started five years before the expansion of the Narayangadh-Muglin road, is incomplete. ‘If the blacktopping of the road was completed, it would have been an alternative to the road connecting Kathmandu,’ said Dhanlal Chepang of Syamrang, ‘development would have reached the remote settlements.’ But, it was a godsend for us.’
