Rautahat, February 6 As delay in construction of a bridge linking Gaur and Ishanath municipalities in Rautahat over the Lal Bakaiya River persists, the same has hit locals here. More than one-and-a-half years have passed after the contract period expired. Four-and-a-half years ago, the government had awarded the 140 billion rupees-plus worth project to Pappu Construction. So far, only 40 per cent of construction work is said to have been completed. It is important to note that in the absence of a bridge, the locals are making do with a makeshift bridge during winter while they are forced to ride boat to cross the river during the rainy season. Just last year, five persons lost their lives in a boat capsize incident while trying to cross the river. Chairman of Ward No 4 of Gaur Municipality Bhuwaneshwor Shahi expressed dissatisfaction with the current pace of construction. “The contractor company has already received 50 million rupees so far, but hasn’t performed satisfactorily,” said the ward chairperson. Former prime minister and late Nepali Congress leader Sushil Koirala had laid the foundation stone of the bridge. Meanwhile, locals expressed dismay at the snail-paced construction work. “Happy as we were to see the foundation stone of the bridge being laid, we are now unhappy with the pace of work,” said local Bidhan Sahani. On his part, Road Division Office Chandrapur engineer Shyam Narayan Mishra said the contractor had been told to expedite construction. “Though the contract expired with the end of the last fiscal, we haven’t extended it so as to pressurise the contractor to complete the project at the earliest,” said Mishra. The bridge links Ishanath, Rajpur and Paroha municipalities to Gaur.