The campaign to remove structures on the main road in Birgunj, which was halted since Friday due to obstruction by locals, was unable to move forward on Sunday.
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The campaign to use dozers on houses and structures within the road boundary in Birgunj's main road, which was halted since Friday evening due to local obstruction, could not resume on Sunday.
The meeting of the stakeholders, which was supposed to be held on Saturday to resolve the dispute, could not be held as Parsa's Chief District Officer Bhola Dahal was out of town.
Durga Prasad, engineer of the Road Division Office Hetauda and focal person designated for Birgunj, said that the meeting could not be held due to the absence of the Chief District Officer Dahal, even though the office's DE Kiran Karki had also come for the meeting on Saturday.
He said that preparations are now being made to hold the meeting on Monday when the office opens. He said that the meeting has been postponed for an additional day as problems arise repeatedly when the dispute is not resolved and the dozer operators feel unsafe.
Engineer Prasad said that the dozer, its driver and himself are also in Birgunj in readiness. He also claimed that the dozer will not return under any circumstances. He said that they are on standby as they have to go to work at any time.
The Road Division Office, Hetauda, had started a campaign to remove structures encroaching on the main road area of Birgunj along the Tribhuvan Highway from around 1 pm on Friday. After removing the structures up to the agricultural implement factory, the campaign was stopped at around 5 pm on the same day when locals in the Bahuari area obstructed the operation of the dozer.
The locals said that the road expansion work was being carried out without necessary coordination with the Birgunj Metropolitan City and took a stand not to allow the dozer to operate immediately as discussions were ongoing among the concerned bodies on this issue.
The Road Division Office, Hetauda, had written to the Birgunj Metropolitan City on Asad 5, requesting assistance in removing permanent and temporary structures located within 25-25 meters to the right and left of the center line of the road from Sirsiya-Miteri Bridge to Bahuari Gandak Chowk along the Tribhuvan Highway. The campaign could not proceed at that time due to the lack of expected coordination from the metropolis.
Earlier, the office had issued a public notice and given a deadline to remove the structures within the road boundaries on its own. In the first phase, on April 6 and 7, the Roads Department used dozers on about 1,200 houses and buildings along the main road. In that process, the front part of most of the structures was removed, while the concerned were urged to remove the remaining structures within the road boundaries themselves within 25 days. However, after the specified deadline passed, many structures remained intact, the department has started the second phase of the removal campaign.
