Khotang, January 8

The Jayaram-Halesi road section in Khotang is in a sorry state.

The road surface stretching for 30 kilometres from Jayaram to Halesi, which was black-topped six years ago, has started peeling off.

Numerous ditches along the road section have disrupted vehicular movement to and from Diktel.

Jeeban Rai, a local of Chyamsitar VDC, said the problem surfaced as the contractors had used sub-standard materials while black-topping the road.

The stretch is the only road link in the mid-hill Lokmarga that connects Khotang to the country’s main cities, including the capital city.

Swachhanda-Bhagawati Construction Service had black-topped the road section between 2008 to 2010. Rai said the black-topping, however, peeled off four years after the construction as the contractors had used sub-standard materials.

“We had protested against the use of sub-standard materials at that time by the forming a protest committee. But the contractor ignored our demand,” he said.

According to District Technical Office, Khotang, black-topping is currently under way along the road section in some of the most affected areas. The office said Rauta Construction was responsible for black-topping the damaged road. “The new contractor has been filling ditches along the road section,” said Surendra Rai, a local of Chyamsitar.