The trend of contractors not completing projects on time has become a common occurrence in the country. What is even more surprising is that during elections, the parties and their leaders who solicit votes from voters in the name of the same projects, and then win the elections, ignore them.

There are some similar projects in Siraha and Saptari, which have only become 'weapons' to attract votes for political parties. Of these, the largest and most incomplete project that the general public has been forced to bear for a long time is the Kamala River Bridge on the border of Siraha and Dhanusha. It has been 15 years since the construction of this bridge along the Postal Highway, which is considered the lifeline of Madhesh, began.

Pappu-Lumbini Builders JV Kathmandu was awarded the contract for the construction of the 469.2-meter-long Kamala Bridge on 24 Jestha 2068 for 24 crore 90 million rupees including VAT. The owner of Pappu Construction is Hari Narayan Rauniyar, who also became a member of the House of Representatives from JSP Nepal. The operator of this construction is currently his son Sumit Rauniyar, while Bishnu Prasad Sharma, the operator of Lumbini Builders.

According to the agreement, the bridge should have been constructed within 3 years and 6 months, i.e., by Mangsir 30, 2071. However, the construction period was extended twice and extended to Mangsir 30, 2075. Still, the contractor did not construct the bridge. After the locals formed a struggle committee and started a relay hunger strike, the Postal Highway Directorate, Planning Office, Janakpur removed the main partner Pappu on Asoj 1, 2076, and awarded the contract to Lumbini Builders.

When Lumbini had completed the final stage of the bridge construction, except for the embankment and access road on the river, the general flood that occurred on Asar 17, 2078 could not be contained, and the second pier on the Siraha side of the bridge and the third pier on Kartik 3, 2078, collapsed. However, even after more than four years, the condition of the bridge is the same.
The eighth extended deadline for the reconstruction of the bridge has already passed last Asar. The contractor has recently started work again after the directorate prepared to withdraw the contract. Krishna Kumar Mahato, head of the Postal Road Directorate, Planning Office, Janakpur, said that although the contractor has recently started work, the deadline has not been extended.

With the attitude of starting work for a few days and then stopping again, it is not clear when the bridge will be completed. However, the contractor company has already taken Rs 231.9 million as payment. The issue of the design of this bridge being wrong and extreme irregularities has also been raised. The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority is conducting an on-site inspection in this matter and is also investigating.

Due to this delay in the construction of this bridge in Kamala, the residents of this area have been suffering a lot for decades. In the absence of a bridge here, the locals who used to cross the river by boat during the rainy season used to commute through a temporary bamboo bridge during the dry season. Recently, a temporary diversion has been made by placing a hummock pipe on the river. However, Indrajit Yadav, Ward Chairman of Siraha Municipality-6, says that this is not sustainable. ‘After the diversion was built, it has become easy to move around, but this is only for the time when the river floods,’ Yadav said. ‘If the flood comes, it will easily wash it away.’

The locals are suffering a lot due to the lack of this bridge. Janakpur is only 31 kilometers away from this bridge. However, due to the lack of a bridge, the residents here are forced to travel for about 90 kilometers via Choharwa, Mirchaiya, Dhalkebar, and travel for one and a half hours to reach Janakpur, which is half an hour away.

However, there is a competition between leaders of different parties to inspect the bridge in Kamala. The bridge, which was laid by the then Minister of Physical Planning and Planning Hridayesh Tripathi and the then Minister of Finance Barshaman Pun in 2068, has been inspected by various prime ministers and ministers more than a dozen times.

Of which, KP Sharma Oli twice, Pushpa Kamal Dahal twice, and Sher Bahadur Deuba once, three of the then prime ministers have visited it five times. Oli first visited it on Magh 19, 2075, the second time on Chaitra 26, 2081, Dahal first visited it on Falgun 12, 2080, the second time on Falgun 17, 2081, and Deuba on Shrawan 2, 2076.

The list of ministers who have visited it is long. On 2078 Ashad 4, the then Tourism Minister Umashankar Aragaria came here, while on 2079 Falgun 15, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure Narayan Kaji Shrestha, on 2080 Shrawan 1, the then Minister for Physical Infrastructure Prakash Jwala, on 2080 Chait 9, the then Minister for Physical Infrastructure Raghubir Mahaseth, on 2080 Chait 9, the then Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak on 2082 Jestha 9, the then Minister for Physical Infrastructure Kalman Ghising and the Minister for Youth and Sports Bablu Gupta came here.

Apart from this, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, JSP Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav, Janmat Party Chairman Dr. CK Raut, former Chief Minister of Madhesh Province Satish Kumar Singh, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives Subash Chandra Nembang, the then Speaker of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and others also visited here and inspected the bridge.

All these leaders, from former ministers to former Prime Ministers, have come here and given the same assurance, this bridge will be built soon. However, their assurances are limited to speeches. The districts that have suffered the most due to the lack of a bridge at Kamala are Saptari, Siraha and Dhanusha. In the upcoming House of Representatives elections, there are 24 candidates from these three districts alone, including the presidents of influential parties in the region, former ministers and chief ministers of the provinces.

In Saptari, there are 7 candidates, including JSP Nepal president and former deputy prime minister Upendra in constituency 3, Janamat Party president CK Raut in Saptari 2, former chief minister Satish Kumar Singh from Swabhiman Party, former minister Umesh Yadav from JSP Nepal, former minister Anish Ansari from Rastriya Mukti Party, and former minister Tejulal Chaudhary from Congress in Saptari 4 and former minister of state Rubi Kumari Karna from NCP.

In Siraha, 9 former ministers are in the fray in constituency number 4, including JSP Nepal Vice President Rajkishore Yadav, Janmat Party's Birendra Mahato, CPN-UML's Dharmanath Sah, CPN-UML's Ajay Shankar Nayak, Bishvendra Paswan, UML's Leelanath Shrestha, CPN-UML's Bishnath Sah, CPN-UML's Ramchandra Yadav, and Rashtriya Samaj Party's Bablu Gupta.

In Dhanusha, Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi, UML's Julie Mahaseth, UML's Raghubir Mahaseth, Congress's Mahendra Yadav, Dhanusha 2's Ramchandra Jha, Umashankar Aragaria, CPN-UML's Matrika Prasad Yadav, and JSP Nepal's Deepak Karki have become candidates.

They have taken the voters by promising to take the initiative to build the Kamala Bridge in the previous elections and have made the Kamala Bridge an agenda item again in this election. Leelanath Shrestha, who won the elections from Siraha 3 twice in 2074 and 2079 BS and became a minister and is a candidate again this time, is promising the voters to build the Kamala Bridge this time too. ‘We have tried for this bridge when we were in the government in the past, but it did not gain momentum due to the change of government,’ he said, ‘I will make it a top priority after winning this time.’ On the other hand, Umashankar Aragaria, who was elected from Dhanusha 2 from JSP Nepal in 2074 BS and became a candidate from UML in this election, raised the issue of this bridge prominently and said that his first task after winning would be to build the Kamala Bridge.

However, the locals, who have been deceived by local leaders, ministers and the country's Prime Minister and have repeatedly protested, are now forced to believe in such promises of the leaders. 'Now they have stopped believing in the leaders, they have grown old after hearing such things from the leaders,' said 70-year-old Aseshwor Yadav of Siraha Municipality-5, who was found on the Kamala River. 'The leaders think that we do not understand anything.'

Ramrijhan Yadav of Siraha, one of the leaders fighting for this bridge, says that various political parties and their leaders have been considering the Kamala Bridge as a weapon to gather votes. 'If the leaders had wanted, this bridge could have been built already,' he says, 'But, it seems that they are always trying to steal the votes of the people here in the name of leaving the bridge incomplete, this is dishonest.'
Saying that there is no solution to the reconstruction of the bridge, he says that a new bridge should be built in Kamala. ‘There is a flaw in the design of the bridge, the design from a decade and a half ago is no longer functional,’ he said, ‘so if anyone talks about rebuilding the bridge again, it is a lie, there is no alternative to building a bridge with a new design here.’

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Another project that has caused the most suffering to the common people of this area is the Kamala-Kanchanpur Highway. The 86.82-kilometer highway from Kamala Bridge in Siraha to Kanchanpur in Saptari under the East-West Highway has been expanding into four lanes for more than five years.

The Chinese construction company China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group was awarded the contract for the expansion of this highway on Kartik 13, 2077 for 15.66 billion rupees. The work of expanding the highway is being done by dividing it into two sections, western and eastern. According to which, the western section is 47.40 kilometers from Kamala in Siraha to Kusaha in Saptari, while the eastern section is 39.42 kilometers from Kusaha to Kanchanpur.

According to the agreement, this highway was to be completed within three years, i.e., by Kartik 11, 2080. However, despite the deadline specified in the contract agreement, this highway is incomplete even after the deadline was extended three times. After the contractor company was unable to work within the specified deadline, the deadline was extended for the first time until Poush 10, 2081, and for the second time, it was extended again until Poush 16, 2082.

However, the government has again given the contractor, who missed the deadline for the second time, a deadline of up to mid-Asard for the third time. Under this project, six lanes will be constructed in the urban area of ​​this road section and four lanes in other areas, 55 culverts and bridges, both large and small, 8 underpasses and overpasses, etc.

Only five months are left for the third extension of the deadline . However, the Road Department has stated that only about 71 percent of the physical progress has been made on both sections so far .
Due to the extreme negligence being done in the expansion of this road, commuters are suffering daily . Due to the Saghura diversion, incomplete finishing and unorganized roads in the main market area, the public is suffering from dust, fumes and the risk of accidents .

Accidents occur daily on this road and due to the smoke and dust, respiratory, skin, eye diseases have also increased, says Mirchaiya doctor Dr. Shambhu Sah . ‘There is not a day when people do not come to the hospital after an accident on this highway. On the other hand, respiratory, eye, skin and other diseases also come, this is due to the smoke and dust,’ he says, ‘If it continues like this, it will have a long-term effect on the heart and brain of a person.’

Not only this, the business of most of the markets in the highway area, which was once bustling, has declined. Because, the pace of work in the urban area is even slower. Mirchaiya, Lahan and Golbazar in Siraha have been affected the most by this, while the condition of most of the markets in the highway area including Kanchanpur, Mahuli, Birendrabazar, Rupani, Kalyanpur in the Saptari section is also similar.

In the 2079 local and general elections, various political parties and candidates had made the issue of construction of this highway an agenda. However, the highway was not built. ‘Due to the dust and mud on the road, few customers come, and even when they come, they do not buy goods after seeing the dust,’ says Harishankar Sah, a businessman from Mirchaiya, ‘The traders have reached a point where they cannot even pay the rent of their houses. The leaders only came to get votes from us, they did not consider it necessary to understand our problems.’

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Apart from this, there are other main roads in Siraha, which become the agenda in every election. However, the roads are not being built. Among them, the road from Golbazar to Lagdi Gadiyani, which has been under construction for a long time but has not been completed. The Postal Road Directorate, Planning Office, Janakpur, has been constructing this 28-kilometer road for about five years.

The Directorate had awarded the contract to Contec Pvt. Ltd. Kathmandu for the construction of this road on Bhadra 24, 2077, for 30 months, i.e., by Falgun 23, 2079, for a sum of Rs. 913.979 million. However, the contractor, who could not make even normal physical progress even after the contract period expired, had been extended three times by the Directorate, first until Falgun 22, 2080, second until Falgun 22, 2081, and third until Falgun 22, 2082.

However, with only one month left after this deadline, the Directorate has stated that the physical progress of the road is only about 35 percent. During this long period, not much work has been done except for making drains and laying gravel in some places on the road. However, the payment to the contractor company for this has been made for Rs. 254.977 million, excluding VAT.

Therefore, if the common people here do not suffer from the dust in the dry season, then due to the mud in the rainy season, even an ambulance cannot ply on this road . This road, which is located in Siraha area number 3, becomes an election issue in every election . Locals say that the issue of this road, which was laid by the then Minister for Physical Infrastructure, Infrastructure and Transport, Basanta Kumar Nembang, and the then House of Representatives MP and former minister of this area, Leelanath Shrestha, disappears after the election is over . 

‘I have been hearing that this road is being built since I can understand it. We met many leaders in the hope of this road, but everyone only cheated me,’ said Saroj Yadav of Arnama Rural Municipality-3, ‘It is difficult to walk in the mud during the rainy season and in the dry season, it is difficult to walk in the dust. We are shocked .’

Arnama Rural Municipality Chairman Ashok Yadav has complained that the contractor company and the directorate have been extremely dishonest in the construction of this road . However, he said that despite appealing everywhere, he got nothing but assurances. ‘I have called the contractor to my office many times and asked him to work quickly, I have told the directorate many times, and I am tired of telling the outgoing MP from this area, Lilanath Shrestha,’ he said, ‘But, I have not got anything but assurances from everywhere.’

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Similarly, the Mirchaiya-Kalyanpur-Siraha road section under Siraha area number 4 has also become a main agenda in every election. From Mirchaiya to Kalyanpur, 8.5 kilometers of this road have been blacktopped at a cost of Rs 400 million. However, the part of this road section, which is about 19 kilometers long, from Kalyanpur to Siraha, is incomplete.

In Chaitra 2078, the then Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Renu Yadav, and the then MP from Siraha 4, Rajkishore Yadav, jointly laid the foundation stone of this road and said that a blacktop road would be constructed up to Kalyanpur in the first phase and from Kalyanpur to Siraha in the second phase. However, their promise could not be fulfilled.

On the same day, they also laid the foundation stone to expand the Choharwa-Sirha road, which is the main highway leading to the Siraha district headquarters, into four lanes. However, although this 18-kilometer highway has been upgraded from Gulariya to Siraha to four lanes, it is unclear when the remaining part will be expanded.

Rajkishore Yadav, who was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Siraha 4 in 2074 and from Siraha 2 in 2079, is again a candidate from Siraha 4. Although some work was done on these roads when he was an MP from this area, it was left unfinished after the elected representatives from this area did not show interest in 2079 BS, and Yadav claims that he will complete it this time if he wins the election.

Similarly, the Zero Mile-Sukhipur-Bariyarpatti road connecting the Postal Highway via the East-West Highway in Area No. 2 has also been an election issue for a long time. However, although this approximately 17-kilometer road has also been constructed from Zero Mile to Tenuwapatti, the remaining part has been dilapidated for a long time.

The Bhotiatol-Sitapur-Nargi road connecting the Postal Highway via the East-West Highway in Area No. 1, the Lahan-Sonvarsha road and the approximately 17-kilometer road from Lahan to North Nepaltal connecting to the Mid-Hill Highway have also not been constructed despite being an issue in every election.