After the fast to death of the people's representatives, it was agreed that the Hulaki road would be paved soon

All the local levels and people's representatives of the district expressed their solidarity in this work saying that the head of the local level has to go on hunger strike and agreed to speed up the work under the leadership of the provincial government.

Congress General Minister Gagan Thapa also came to the hunger strike site and expressed solidarity. The people's representatives of Pratappur Rural Municipality sat on a relay fast from 25th August to 27th August after the post road work did not start even when they wrote to the union government and staged a sit-in at the district administration. Village chairman Yadav has been on hunger strike since 28th of August after he did not commit to fulfill the demand even when he was on a relay fast.

Municipal Chairman Yadav's hunger strike was broken after the post road project, contractor side and physical infrastructure development minister of Lumbini province government Bhumishwar Dhakal came to the hunger strike site and promised to start work from October 1st.

It is very sad that road construction has been stalled for years in this densely populated area. As the local government could not allocate the budget in the plan of the union government and could not even do the work, we faced legal complications,'' said the municipal president Yadav, 'If the union government could not work, it would have given us the responsibility. We will complete the work in four months. Even now, if we don't work according to the agreement, we will go to legal battle.'

The story of Hulaki Road

Hulaki road, which is the lifeline of the dense settlements of Terai, is not completed for years, so the residents of the southern part of West Nawalparasi are forced to travel dangerously. Kathawa-Belatari, Narayan Chowk-Parasi, Narayan Chowk-Triveni sections of the highway are not completed due to the lack of completion of the black paper, on one side there is a risk of accidents and on the other side, dust and mud are causing problems.

Mankumari Chaudhary of Pratappur rural municipality-6 is unable to walk on the road due to water in front of her house. The problem of slipping of bicycles and small vehicles is the same. It is not possible to dry clothes in the yard due to dust. You can't walk without a mask. It is very difficult to go to the rural municipality and headquarter Parasi,' she said, 'We made delegations and road closures many times to speed up the work, but the contractor did not work.' She complained that the government could not take action against the contractor even after the road was blocked for years. The pits dug for road construction have not been filled for years and the construction materials are ineffective. Local Anoj Yadav complained that the journey on the postal road is becoming difficult due to this.

In all the three sections of Hulaki road extension in the district, the work has not been done on time as per the contract. It has become difficult to operate the traffic on Hulaki road and the surrounding areas, and in the rain, even ambulances are unable to move and the vehicles get stuck. Kapilvastu, the agency that arranges and regulates contracts for construction, has been saying that the work has not been done according to the contract despite repeated requests to speed up the work.

'We have been repeatedly urging the contractor to work in writing and verbally. Even if there were some problems, we have solved them by coordination,'' Yuvraj Pandey, engineer of Hulaki Highway Planning Office, said, 'Locals have been protesting repeatedly asking us to coordinate to speed up the work and to take action against the contractor if they fail. Even now, the work is not done on time and we will take the necessary action.'

Despite repeated local protests demanding the completion of the Kathawa-Bellatari section, the contractor side has not given up. An agreement was signed with Bajraguru Mahalakshmi JV Construction Services for 27 crores for the construction of this section of 9 km from Kathawa to Belatari in Pratappur Rural Municipality. At the age of 6 years, only 45 percent of the work has been done . Due to lack of work at the time of extension for the first time, the deadline for the second time has been extended until the middle of next month.

It has been 8 years since the construction of the Narayan Chowk-Parasi road section of the highway started . The 12 and a half kilometer road construction work from headquarters Parasi to Narayan Chowk has been extended three times, but more than 90 percent of it has been completed, but the journey is difficult due to the lack of culvert construction. The project has not been completed and the black sheet has been destroyed at the place of work. The contractor company Kanchenjunga, Viruwa Shivshakti JV and Kapilvastu of Hulaki Road Directorate have claimed that the road construction work is going on. Culverts have been constructed at 4 places on the 12 km road section. However, when the work does not speed up, the locals are forced to use an alternative route . Due to lack of construction of culvert on time, people died in traffic accidents. The work on the 15 km Narayan Chowk-Triveni section from Narayan Chowk in Bardghat Municipality to Triveni in East Nawalparasi is also at a snail's pace. The road work being expanded at a cost of 58 crores is at a slow pace.

The progress of the road which should be completed in 2079 is only 30 percent. This road section falls under three local levels namely Bardghat Municipality, Pratappur and Susta Rural Municipality. Due to the dilapidated condition of this road section leading to the religious place Triveni, religious tourists have also decreased.