सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Baglung. The Mid-Hill Highway, a national pride project, connects the remote settlements of Baglung to eastern Rukum. Of the 1,879-kilometer highway stretching from Chiyobhanjyang in Panchthar to Jhulaghat in Baitadi, 135 km lies in Baglung.
90 percent of the work in the Baglung section of the project, which began in 2064 BS, has been completed so far. The track was opened two and a half decades ago on the initiative of various organizations in the headquarters section of the highway. The track was opened in the West Baglung section only around 2064/65.
The residents of the settlements along the highway are in trouble as the project has not been completed even after 17 years since its inception. The Mid-Hill Highway Office, Parbat, has stated that about 90 percent of the work has been completed and the remaining will be completed as soon as possible. Kiran Subedi, the office’s information officer, said that 122 km of the road has been blacktopped so far, and 13 km remains to be blacktopped. Stating that the Highway Office is working on various sections, he said that work has been completed on 15 km under Nisikhola Rural Municipality and handed over to the Road Department.
According to him, all sections except five km from Baglung Bazaar to Bayaldanda and eight km from Bayaldanda to Ghodabandhe have been blacktopped. Information Officer Subedi said that work is underway to complete five km this year and the remaining eight km next year.
He said, “The road has been blacktopped and repaired in many places in the Baglung section. The completed sections are yet to be handed over to the Road Department. Now the work is in full swing. It was too late to break the contract and re-pave the Bihun section. All the work will be completed in the next one year. After the work is completed, we will hand over all the sections to the Road Department.”
Nishokhola, which is considered the most remote area in Baglung, has now become accessible due to not being connected by the mid-hill highway. Surya Bahadur Gharti Magar, the chairman of Nisikhola Rural Municipality, said that the highway has proven to be a boon for the people of Nisikhola. He said that this highway directly connects the provincial capital Pokhara and the federal capital Kathmandu.
‘In the past, when Nisikhola was remote, even the employees working there would not want to come. The citizens here were forced to travel for weeks to reach the district headquarters, but now they can reach the capital in a single day, not the headquarters,’ said Chairman Gharti Magar. ‘The easy access to the road has helped in marketing and traveling local products, and has also changed the living standards of thousands of citizens in this area.’
He said that dozens of night and day buses have started operating daily from the Baglung section to the federal capital Kathmandu from the districts of East Rukum, West Rukum, Jajarkot, Dolpa and other districts of western Nepal through the Mid-Hill Highway.
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