Pokhara, February 3 

A road construction project at Pokhara-Lekhnath Metropolitan City-21, Kaski, has affected water supply to Bharatpokhari, Nirmalpokhari and Kristi areas in the city.

As a result, the locals there have been facing an acute shortage of water. Locals said the road project had damaged pipelines supplying drinking water to their areas.

According to Dataram Acharya, a local, residents of all three areas were supplied water from a reservoir 23 kilometres away.

“We can’t protest against construction of a road, but the project has disrupted water supply to our areas,” said Ward No 21 Chair Khagaraj Acharya. He said the road project had detroyed infrastructure worth Rs 10 million.

Acharya said they had informed the district technical office to address the problem at the earliest. A road construction project is under way under the supervision of District Technical Office, Kaski.

The project falls under Strengthening Rural Transport Programme for which the World Bank has provided Rs 210 million.

Meanwhile, Chief of District Technical Office, Kaski, Engineer Narayan Baral admitted the road project had disrupted water supply to the area and said he had written to the higher authorities about the problem.