Due to the confusion in understanding development, many examples have been created where the state is misguided, gets trapped in wrong/weak priorities, and citizens have to suffer. There is an increasing attitude of pushing people away from the places where their residences and businesses are connected based on the logic of development or the arguments made. Especially in urban areas, the construction of wide roads and the process of pushing away small businessmen and entrepreneurs on the outskirts has become synonymous with development.

Suffering from this attitude, the Division Road Office, Hetauda, ​​demolished 531 houses and structures in Hetauda by using half a dozen dozers from early morning to evening on Saturday. The negative impact of this on the self-esteem, employment and livelihood of the affected families will surely surface over time. The context of Hetauda's roads and the development of the maze is being discussed, before that the state should take care of their safety and security from their people and property to their livelihood and manage it. Hundreds of houses/structures can be demolished at once and thousands of people can be put on the road, but it is not possible to escape from its responsibility towards the citizens.

Efforts to remove structures along the roads in Hetauda have been going on since 2073 BS. But it was stopped after a court order. Last time, on 5th Mangsir, the Road Division, Hetauda, ​​issued a notice with a 15-day deadline saying that 'structures built encroaching on the road' would be demolished. A writ was filed against it in the Supreme Court on 6th Mangsir.

Hearing the writ petition on Friday, the Supreme Court issued a short-term interim order to ‘retain the status quo without implementing the notice or have it maintained’ and called both the parties for discussion on 26th Mangs. But saying that the order had not been formally received, the Division Road Office demolished structures from Ratomate to the popular hotel in Chowkitol and from Buddha Chowk to Rapti Bridge on Saturday.

It can be understood that the office used the dozer on Saturday with the intention of demolishing the houses/structures anyway. Because, according to them, the court letter that was not received on Friday would not have been received on Saturday, it would definitely have been received on Sunday. The idea of ​​demolishing the houses/structures, even if it was in defiance of the court order, is criticizable. The demolition of the structures has been postponed because the letter was received on Sunday.

Whether it is the work of extending the road or expanding it, it is not a task that cannot be done overnight. There was no need to rush after the court itself had initially said not to implement it immediately. Because the court had called for discussion on 26th and a conclusion would have been reached from the subsequent hearings. From another perspective, in any place, especially in Nepal, where cities are not planned according to a pre-plan, people settle there first, gradually people realize the need for roads, take the initiative, and the roads arrive.

The same thing happened in Hetauda. There was a market there in 2010. When the road came in the beginning, people cut off some of their land and gave it to the road. As the city grew, the mentality that a wide road was needed also grew. Misunderstandings also grew. The sensitivity of the place where the market was established in 2010 may not be fully addressed by the Highway Act of 2021. Therefore, dialogue, discussion, and judicial review are needed.

A city is not just about big structures including big roads. It is also a place that gives countless people the opportunity to live according to their abilities and capabilities. That is why there are people selling bundles of greens on the doka, vegetables on the kharpan, amla on the nanglo, and spicy food on the cart. People can be found on the sidewalk, from weighing to roasting corn. Similarly, there are rickshaw pullers. There are also small shutters and people who run their own businesses. This makes the individual self-employed, economic activity is active and employment is being created.

Therefore, the city is a common pool of many experiences, plans and memories. That is why the informal economy is also taken into account, just like the formal economy of the city. The state should protect all these aspects. Yes, a few people may have encroached on public property. They should be managed in the same way. However, 531 houses have been demolished in one place. 40 households who were landless and received land titles in 2051 have become squatters again. For these reasons, the misunderstanding there seems to be of a different nature.

An attempt is being made to build a big road from the main city of Hetauda. That is an incompatible idea in itself. A big road with high-speed vehicles within the main city is not justified. Such a road does not connect with the lifestyle and economic activities of the common people there. A big road that cuts through the city disrupts the city itself. On the other hand, the needs and belonging of the citizens should be added to the construction or expansion of roads. Otherwise, it will only be a manifestation of someone's ego satisfaction or wrong intentions.

It is questionable to rush into a work that has been stopped by the court several times and is still not being implemented. Similarly, there is also a bypass road as an alternative. When the construction work of which the state has spent Rs 750 million has been completed, the city of Hetauda would also be saved, and the economic activities around the road would also be saved. An alternative to the big road that the state saw as necessary would also be available. By then, there would also be time to systematically relocate the structures that were said to have been built by encroaching on the road. Conflict would not have increased. People would not have to be stranded suddenly.

Again, all these issues are linked to the understanding of development. They are linked to the illusory initiative of providing development and achieving development. The structures built in areas such as education, health, transport/roads, and communication are only the infrastructure for development, they are not development themselves. Development is linked to the answers to questions such as whether people are able to live a dignified life or not, whether there is the possibility of economic-social-educational progress and equal opportunities, whether they are able to actively participate in the decision-making process, whether they are able to feel equality or not, and whether they have to face any obstacles to obtain constitutional and legal rights.