The Road Division, Hetauda, has started the second phase of the campaign to remove structures within the boundaries of the main road by using bulldozers from the Gandak area.
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Dozers have been deployed again on the structures that were not removed within the road boundaries in the main road area of Birgunj Metropolitan City since Friday. The Road Division Office, Hetauda, has started operating the dozers from the Gandak area since 1 pm.
Durga Prasad, Engineer of the Road Division, Hetauda and Focal Person assigned for Birgunj, said that two dozers were deployed on Friday. He also informed that two more dozers will arrive on Saturday and the number of dozers will be increased if necessary.
According to the agreement reached in the office of Parsa Chief District Officer Bhola Dahal, since it is the end of the financial year, the dozers will not be used by cutting the power lines. It is planned to take this campaign forward with more urgency after the end of the Salatamami period. The campaign, which started from the northern part of the metropolis, will gradually be operated through the southern part and up to the Nepal-India border.
On Asad 20, the Road Division Hetauda had written to the Birgunj Metropolitan City requesting assistance in removing the remaining permanent and temporary structures located within 25-25 meters on the right-left of the road centerline on the road section from Sirsiya-Miteri Bridge to Bahuari Gandak Chowk along the Tribhuvan Highway.
But this campaign was not successful at that time.
Earlier, the office had also given a deadline to the wealthy who had not demolished their houses through a public notice. On Baisakh 20 and 21, the Road Department had used dozers on about 1,200 houses and buildings along the main road in the first phase. In that process, the front part of most of the structures was demolished, while the concerned were urged to remove the structures located on the road boundary within 25 days. But after the deadline passed, many structures remained intact, the department has launched the second phase of the campaign.
The wealthy whose houses were demolished had been protesting in Birgunj and Kathmandu and pressuring them not to demolish them further. On Thursday itself, a team of officials from the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry met with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) President Ravi Lamichhane and submitted a memorandum, urging the government to reconsider the issue of widening the main road in Birgunj and demanding that the alignment be implemented as per the previous decision while protecting the market area of historical and commercial importance.
