Himalayan News Service

Gaighat, February 17:

Since the government did not release funds for the ongoing Gaighat-Diktel road project in the current fiscal year, locals are building the road with their voluntary labour.

Construction of the 131-kilometre road began a decade ago, on a national priority project basis. Although it was estimated it would take 10 years to complete the project, only 20 per cent of the task has been completed.

Locals have completed a 5-km section from Udayapur’s Saune to Khabu. “The government could build only 25 kilometres of road in the last 10 years. But we have already finished 5 km in just a month,” said Madan Magar.

The government has already spent Rs 430 million on the project that was started to link the hilly Khotang district’s Diktel to the rest of the country. A source in the roads division office in Lahan said, Rs 130 million was spent on survey and Rs 300 million on construction. The government had aimed to complete the construction in ten years at the rate of Rs 7 million per kilometre.

An engineer at the district technical office in the district development committee, Udayapur, Shital Kumar Gupta said the government was not allotting the budget for the project from this fiscal year. “The office is ready to do the construction work if the government gives continuity by allocating the budget.”