Kathmandu, January 27:

Locals of Ganabahal and Ombahal hope that rainwater will not enter their houses this rainy season as they have joined hands with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) to construct a drainage under the road connecting Ganabahal with Ombahal.

“The rainy season has been a nightmare for us as rainwater that gets collected around Sundhara flows through the alley, sometimes inundating houses,” Harka Bahadur Shrestha, a local, said.

Locals said rainwater was causing damage to the road especially during the rainy season and

that vehicular movement was next to impossible. As the KMC itself didn’t take initiatives to solve this problem, locals formed a consumers’ group this month and put pressure on it to build a drainage under the road.

With the estimated budget of around Rs 2.4 million, the construction of the drainage is underway, Purna Bahadur Manandhar, chairman of the Ganabahal-Ombahal Consumers’ Group, said. “The KMC gave 90 per cent of budget and locals contributed 10 per cent

to build the drainage,”

he said.

According to him, a 110-metre long drainage will be built under the road and the road will be blacktopped. “The work will be completed by May,” he told this daily.

Locals said rainwater around Sundhara comes though this way, damaging the condition of the road every season. “Sometimes, rainwater enter houses,” another local Harka Bahadur Shrestha said.