Work had begun on constructing a box culvert on the postal road in Parsa, Kaudena Rural Municipality-3, Sarlahi, which was washed away by the floods of the Lakhandehi and Dhangra rivers last October.
We use Google Cloud Translation Services. Google requires we provide the following disclaimer relating to use of this service:
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, expressed or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.
The construction of a culvert on the road destroyed by the flood has been halted due to obstruction by locals. The culvert is being constructed under a contract by the Postal Road Project. The locals have stopped the work demanding that the embankment be constructed before the culvert.
Last September, the floods of the Lakhandehi and Dhungra rivers washed away the Postal Road in Parsa, Koudena Rural Municipality-3, Sarlahi. The project had started the work of constructing a box culvert at the place where the road was eroded so that water could drain from below.
As per the decision of the discussion held in the presence of all stakeholders on September 21, the construction of the culvert is going on in full swing, but for the past few days, the locals have been stopping the construction demanding that the embankment work on the river be done first.
On 27th Magh 2082, Sushma Aditya Vijay Nirman Sewa Udayapur had started the work of the culvert by getting the contract for 35.3 million 3 thousand 23 rupees and completing it by 25th Asad 2083.
Locals have demanded the construction of an embankment of about one and a half kilometers from Kaudena to Chakraghatta. Ravindra Rai Yadav of Kaudena-3 said that the work had to be obstructed because they tried to drain water on the postal road without building an embankment in the river. He said that the drainage of water on the postal road where the embankment should be built in the river would put the settlements in the southern region at risk. ‘Work has been done only to drain the postal water where the embankment should be built in the river, which puts the settlements in the southern region at risk, so we have stopped the work,’ he said, ‘Embankment during the rainy season is the only sustainable solution, if we do not build an embankment, our settlements and farmlands are at risk.’
After locals obstructed the construction of the culvert, saying that floods enter from the northwest every year, a team including Postal Road Project Engineer Ranjit Yadav, Water Resources and Irrigation Development Chandranigahpur Chief Anubhav Chaudhary, and Kaudena Rural Municipality Chairman Rupesh Kumar conducted a monitoring.
During the monitoring, Water Resources and Irrigation Development Chandranigahpur Chief Chaudhary informed that the embankment will have to be completed next year due to lack of budget this year. Postal Road Project Engineer Ranjit Ray said that the obstruction has caused problems in the project, which has already started work on the contract. ‘The embankment does not fall within our scope of work, the locals are not allowing the road work to proceed without an embankment,’ he said. ‘If we do not allow the work to be done on time, its impact will be visible in the rains.’ According to him, there is a risk of the diversion being washed away again during floods.
Kaudena Rural Municipality Chairman Rupesh Kumar said that despite the demand from the all-party meeting in Asoj for the construction of an embankment and a culvert at the same time, the locals have expressed their protest after the culvert contract was awarded and the work has started but no initiative has been taken for the embankment. According to him, due to the absence of an embankment, the floods in the river have been washing away the postal road every year and the settlements have been exposed to erosion and inundation. Newly elected MP from Sarlahi Constituency 2, Rabin Mahato, has also directed that the culvert work on the postal road should not proceed until the demands of the locals are met.
