Summer floods and arduous winter jaunts to nearest agro-product markets are perennial problems of the residents of 17 Tarai districts stretching from Kechana, Jhapa in the East, to Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur in the West, along the East-West Postal Road. But if things go according to the government’s script, blacktopping of the 800-km stretch (with an additional 700 km in feeder roads linking the East-West highway with Indian border towns) could begin as soon as mid-September. India is financing the three-stage project expected to cost around Rs 8 billion. The Detailed Project Report of the first phase has already been completed.

For people like Surendra Das of Manrakatti, Mahottari who ply his firewood trade in Jaleshwor, Dhanusha, what should be a comfortable, two-hour joyride is an eight-hour-long torture astride his bicycle. Tens of thousands of small agro-traders like Das are barely able to make their ends meet in absence of good roads and transportation facilities. Most

agricultural commodities lose value with every passing hour, the result being that by the time they hit the market, most products will have lost their freshness — and caused a loss to the concerned farmer. The metalled East-West postal road will hence be a win-win solution for both the small farmers, and the hundreds of thousands of consumers who will get fresh produce.