DIPAYAL: Six months elapsed since the torrential rain breached the local highways in the district rendering them useless this summer. But the half-a-dozen rural roads here, which were completely damaged in the summer flood and landslides then, are yet to come into operation.

Due to the situation, passengers have been facing problems as they have to cover

the distance on foot while farmers of rural areas are also hit hard after their agricultural produces have been going waste.

Vehicular movement along the 45-km Sahajpur-BP Nagar Bogatan, Dipayal-Tikhatar road (35 km), Dipayal-Daud road (40 km), Budar-Jorayal road (25 km), Khaptad road (10 km) and the 15-km Shantinagar-Naridang road has been obstructed for six months.

Consequently, prices of daily commodities and foodstuff have been skyrocketing in the rural areas after the supply has been hindered ever since.

According to a local resident Suresh Namajali of Bachhain, they have to pay as much as Rs 40 per kg rice, although its exact cost is just 30 rupees. "Our vegetables have rotten on the fields. Bananas have already ripened but are eaten by birds and insects as we could not take them to markets. We are waiting for resumption of the road so that we could sell our products," he said.

Hem Prakash Malla of Jorayal said that herbs worth of thousands of rupees collected from the local community forests have been rotting in godown.

He blames that damages of the road have been perennial problems every summer as the Road Division Office Doti calls for tender for the repair in the end of fiscal year and contractors finish the budget in a jiffy without caring the quality of the works.

Meanwhile, local residents of Jorayal village warned that they would resort to obstructing the Bhimdutta Panta Highway indefinitely in case the damage road was not repaired within five days. They demanded a dozer be sent to reopen the road section immediately.

Man Bahadur Dhami, engineer at Far-Western Road Division Office Dipayal, attributed the lack of repair to the budget crunch.