The Madhyapahari Lokmarg, which is a project of national pride, connects the remote villages of Baglung to East Rukum. Baglung has 135 km under the 1879 km stretch from Cheobhanjyang in Panchthar to Jhulaghat in Baitadi.
The Baglung section of the project, which started in 2064, has been completed so far. The track was opened two and a half decades ago on the initiative of various organizations in the headquarter section of Lokmarg. The track was opened in West Baglungkhand only around 2064/65. Even after 17 years since the project was started, the residents of the slums adjacent to the Lokmarg are in trouble because it has not been completed. As about 90 percent of the work has been completed, the rest will be completed as soon as possible, according to the Madhyapahari Lokmarg Office Parbat. Kiran Subedi, information officer of the
office, said that 122 km of roads have been paved so far and informed that 13 km are yet to be paved. He said that the Public Roads Office is working on various sections and has completed the work on 15 km under Nisikhola rural municipality and has handed it over to the road department.
According to him, except for five km from Baglung Bazar to Bayaldanda and eight km from Bayaldanda to Ghodabandhe, all sections have been blacked out. Information officer Subedi said that five km will be completed this year and the remaining eight km will be completed in the next year.
He said, 'In many places in the Baglung section, the road has been blacked out and has been repaired. The completed section has yet to be handed over to the road department. It was delayed when the contract was broken and re-instated in the Bihun section, all the work will be completed in one year, after the work is completed, we will hand over all the sections to the road department.'
Nisokhola, which is considered to be the most difficult in Baglung, has now become accessible as it is not connected by the Madhyapahari public road. Surya Bahadur Ghartimagar, chairman of Nisikhola rural municipality, said that the Lokmarg has proved to be a blessing for the residents of Nisikhola. He says that this road directly connects the provincial capital Pokhara and the federal capital Kathmandu.
'In the past, when Nisikhola was difficult, even the working staff did not agree to come, the citizens of this area had to spend weeks to reach the district headquarters, but now it is not the headquarters but the capital that can be reached in one day,' President Gharti Magar said, 'The easy road has helped to market the products here and to travel, and the living standards of thousands of citizens in this area have also changed.'
He said that daily dozens of night and day buses from the districts of East Rukum, Paschim Rukum, Jajarkot, Dolpa and other districts of West Nepal through Baglungkhand have started operating for the federal capital Kathmandu.
