Sleeper buses have been operating from Rukum to Kathmandu since last week. They come to Baglung via the Mid-Hill Highway and go to Kathmandu via Pokhara. But the highway that carries such a high-quality vehicle is bumpy and narrow.

Passengers are always forced to travel at risk. Dozens of vehicles from Burtibang in Baglung also come to the district headquarters via this road every day. Night buses run from Burtibang and Galkot to Kathmandu. But every day, passengers have not been able to breathe a sigh of relief until they reach the district headquarters. ‘We have always suffered during the journey,’ said Junu Khanal of Dhorpatan Municipality-1, ‘We are forced to travel in fear whether going to the headquarters or going from Pokhara to Kathmandu.’ She commented that the highway is narrow, risky and full of dust and mud.

Drivers complain that vehicles collide at places due to the potholes not being filled and that they are unable to give way to other vehicles. Traffic police data shows that more than 200 passenger vehicles ply on the Baglung section of the highway every day. Apart from that, the number of pickups, jeeps and tractors plying in rural areas is also higher.

Residents of the roadsides, who suffered from dust in winter, are also suffering from mud and landslides after the rains. Among them, most drivers complain that they are forced to take risky journeys on muddy roads in the Baglung section. ‘We have not traveled without it, but we are always traveling at risk,’ said jeep driver Dammar Chhetri, ‘We have not experienced a government on this road for 10 years.’

Balananda Kandel of Kathekhola Rural Municipality-6 also said that he had to face the mud after the rains started. Farmers who have to produce milk daily and send it to the district headquarters have been suffering from the constant pain of the highway. Three thousand liters of milk are sent to the market from his village daily. Locals have been hit by potholes, mud and dust. The section of the highway in Kathekhola Rural Municipality-1, 2, 5 and 6 and Baglung Municipality-3 has not been completed yet. The highway has become the most risky in Jhakristhan of Galkot Municipality-1 and Bhalumare of Wards-9 and 11.

Even the places that were postponed in the name of filling potholes on the road have started to collapse again. Landslides that occurred during last year's monsoon have not been cleared. New work has not picked up speed after contractors who have worked since 2072 were blacklisted. There is a risk that the road will collapse at two junctions near the intersection and Jhakristhan, making it impossible to drive. The road has not been repaired at those places. On the road section from Hatiya to Kharwang, passengers are troubled by potholes.

Tej Bahadur Thapa, ward chairman of Galkot Municipality-9, said that potholes are a problem for small vehicles. 'The road within our town is dilapidated.' The city budget cannot be maintained, the highway has been in a dilapidated state for years,' he said, 'Since the public hearing, service recipients who come to the ward have repeatedly asked about the condition of this road, but we have not been able to tell them anything.' He said that the municipality is investing in Beruju and the highway is not interested.

All passengers from West Baglung use this road, while passengers from East and West Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Dolpa and Dailekh choose the Baglung route. Although most people choose this road because the distance is short, the road is in a dilapidated state. There is encroachment on the road from Burtiwang to Nisi in most places on the highway, while it is in a dilapidated state elsewhere.

The bridge built last winter in Akshete of Kathekhola Rural Municipality-2 has not been put into use. Mud and water have accumulated on the old bridge, making it dangerous. But even now, heavy vehicles are plying here at great risk. Locals have repeatedly expressed their anger and blocked the road due to the non-construction of about 25 kilometers of the road. But so far, the project office has not worked and has left it stranded.

Students studying at Amar Secondary School in Kathekhola-5 and Bhimsen Secondary School in Ward-6 and patients going to the health post have been suffering forever. There are 142 kilometers of highways in Baglung. Of this, 25 kilometers are not blacktopped and even after blacktopping, about 40 kilometers are dilapidated and have potholes.

Rishi Gautam, an engineer at the Mid-Hill Highway Project Office, said that work is underway to repair potholes on the road. He informed that a new contractor has been assigned to work on the upper section of Kathekhola and that work will be contracted for the lower section.