Kathmandu, April 15

Locals living along Kamal Vinayak-Nagarkot road stretch in Bhaktapur have warned of stringent protest if the construction work of Bhatkeko Pati-Nagarkot road section was not completed soon.

The local have been facing hard time due to inordinate delay in the construction of the road for years. Dust, smoke and puddles on the under-construction road have not only given them trouble, but have seriously affected their health.

Locals, school management committees, tourism organisations and civil society members today formed the Nagarkot-Kamal Vinayak Road Construction Struggle Committee to exert pressure on the government to complete the construction work soon. The committee has 251 members including 21 executive members.

Shailung Construction Pvt Ltd had been given the responsibility of constructing the road section.

Coordinator of the newly formed struggle committee Raj Kumar Lamichhane informed that the committee would submit memorandum to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Kathmandu Valley Road Improvement Project and the Chief Minister of Province 3 through the mayor of Changunarayan Municipality and Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur on April 18.

Lamichanne, who is also a tourism entrepreneur, said that they would provide a seven-day ultimatum for their demands to be addressed. “We want a written commitment from the government stating the exact date for completion of the road,” he said, adding that if required they would provide necessary help to complete the construction.

He also said that if the government failed to address their demands  within seven days, they would stage a sit-in and padlock the municipality office and the office of chief district officer in the first phase of the protest programmes. In the second phase, locals would picket the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar. And in the final phase of the protest, locals would halt vehicular movement on the under-construction road section.

One of the members of the committee Som Sharma Bajgain said the17-kilometre road section from Bhatkeko Pati to Nagarkot was in sorry state.