Mountain. Once upon a time, if the employees of government or non-governmental organizations were transferred to Parbat district, they did not agree to come. It was common thought that the mountain would be a remote district with only hills and no road facilities.
The Pokhara-Baglung Highway was expanded as the then Bhupi Sherchan Highway in the district in 2048 BS. Which connected the district headquarters Kusma Bazar. But not all vehicles leaving Baglung had the words ‘Parbat’ or ‘Kushma’. Baglung and Myagdi were just called.
Not only this, once upon a time, carrying loads of local produce like corn, ghee, rice, honey, etc., used to travel for five days to Reach Butwal. He used to return after a five-day walk after exchanging things like salt, sugar, tea and tea with what he had taken. At that time there was a lot of sorrow, roads, electricity were not even imagined.
Indra Prasad Parajuli, 83, of Bihadi rural municipality-2, Barrachaur, recalled the sorrows of four decades ago. It is amazing to see this change now and to remember the age of the day. ’
The situation in the three municipalities of South Parbat, known as Kalapani in the district, has now become very different. After the expansion of the Kaligandaki Corridor, the shortest route connecting the north and south, kalapani’s identity has changed to a convenient area.
Before federalism in Parbat district, all the then 55 VDCs were touched by road network. If the road network was extended up to the ward level, there was hardly any transport facility for a few months of winter. These roads were blocked after the rainy season. There was no repair on time, the budget was less.
After 2065 BS, the Dobilla-Falewas road and the Kusma-Durlung road were upgraded through the then Rural Infrastructure Development Project. Some rural roads came into operation. After the kaligandaki corridor connecting the north-south started opening the track through the mountain, the road reached Bihadi and Paiyun rural municipalities of South Parbat, known as Kalapani of the district. Although there was no rainy season, people in rural areas started getting road facilities during the winter months.
Now the identity of the mountain is not the same as before. Parbat is known as a smooth district. With the implementation of federalism, all the tola settlements in the district have access to roads at the initiative of the three tiers of government. Chief of District Coordination Committee, Parbat, Bishnu Ram BK, said that people of any remote settlement do not have to walk for more than five to 10 minutes to reach home from the road.
The road has reached all the settlements of parbat easily. All seven local levels of the district have blacktopped roads and most of the ward offices are covered with blacktopped roads. According to BK, the mountain road infrastructure has developed to a significant extent as compared to the neighbouring districts.
In the absence of road facilities, there was a compulsion to rot in the field to grow the grains grown in the rural areas or the oranges grown on the plant. But now every farmer has access to the road to the garden. Jit Bahadur Gurung of Bhoxing of Mahashila-2 in the district became furung after getting access to the road. Gurung, who has grown oranges on 12 ropanis of land since 2067 BS, is happy to be able to sell oranges from his field for two years.
Dozens of farmers, including Devendra Sharma of Phalebas-10 Kurgha, have been able to earn an income by selling vegetables and fruits, including oranges, for the last two years. Farmers, including Sharma, who have been sending 1,500 litres of milk daily to Pokhara, had been facing problems due to road problems.
Like Jit Bahadur and Sharma, the produce of many farmers now reaches directly from the village to the city. In the last eight years, the rural roads of Parbat have been upgrading at a rapid pace due to the activism of the local government and the competition for the development of the three-tier government.
According to the data of the then District Development Committee, the raw track of about 2,200 kilometers of roads in Parbat had been opened till 2073 BS. But now its distance has increased to around 2,600. With the implementation of federalism in Parbat district spread over 494 square kilometers, the local levels are investing in upgrading these roads.
Access to quality roads has now been expanded in most of the wards of the district as the chiefs of the municipalities, who have access to the state and the center, have been speeding up the work of upgrading the main roads and blacktopping.
According to Kusma Municipality Mayor Ram Chandra Joshi, blacktopped roads have reached almost all the wards of the municipality. “There is no settlement untouched by the unpaved road,” he said. ’
According to Mahashila rural municipality chair Ishwori Prasad Bhusal, the road has been upgraded so that vehicles can ply in all the wards of the municipality for 12 months. “The main roads have been prioritized by the state and the centre,” he said, adding, “We have blacktopped some rural roads. ’
Mahashila, which has successfully implemented one house one employment, one house one tunnel and other programmes, has focused on upgrading the road network to reach the farmers’ produce to the market, he said. Of the 183 kilometers of rural roads in Mahashila, 21 kilometers have been blacktopped.
According to the data of all the seven municipalities of Parbat, about 400 kilometers of rural roads have been blacktopped so far. Apart from this, there is about 50 kilometers of road slope. According to the technicians, blacktopping the roads in steep and wet areas is not sustainable.
According to Santosh Aryal, chief of infrastructure development office, Parbat, 20 kilometers of road was blacktopped last year. The target is to blacktop 12 kilometers of roads this year. Some of the 150-km road blacktopping agreement has been signed, while some roads are under construction.
Work on the Kaligandaki Corridor (Highway) in the rural areas is going on at a rapid pace. Most of the wards of Bihadi and Falewas municipalities have access to the highway with blacktopping last year. Work on the 43-km road from Setiveni to Armadi in Parbat is in full swing. Similarly, the blacktopping of the 14-km Phalebas-Armadi road section could not be carried out due to the negligence of the construction company.
According to the office, the tender for blacktopping work could not be called due to lack of timely work in the section and the budget was not assured in the current fiscal year. According to the stakeholders, the budget should be focused on upgrading and blacktopping the old roads instead of opening new tracks in parbat, which has road facilities in every tole of all the 61 wards of the district.
The Gandaki state government has allocated Rs 940 million in the current fiscal year for road infrastructure in Parbat. Baglung: The federal plans are to be implemented through the Intensive Urban Development and Building Construction Project in Baglung.
The development of Parbat district is gradually gaining momentum as Pushpalal is surrounded by mid-hill highway and Kaligandaki highway. Access to well-equipped roads, electricity, irrigation, drinking water, education and health is becoming more concentrated in rural areas, but rural areas are becoming empty. Ca member Bikash Lamsal said sustainable and proper development would take place only if all the three tiers of the state government could bring self-employment-oriented and self-reliant programmes to the citizens.
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