Nawalparasi. Traveling in the Daunne area under the Narayangadh-Butwal road section has become very difficult. As the highway in the Daunne area was demolished during the road expansion, it is now very difficult and challenging to travel through this section. As the structures demolished during the road expansion are not reconstructed on time, passengers are forced to suffer every day. Although other areas of the road section are being blacktopped in a hurry, in the Daunne area, the bumpy roads, narrow roundabouts, temporary diversions made for construction, and dusty roads have made travel difficult.
Traveler Jeevan Dhakal said, “The road from Dumkibas to Daunne via Bardaghat is very risky. Along with the dust, there is also the risk of accidents. It took four hours to clear the Daunne road.” Due to dust in the Daunne section, vehicles are forced to drive with their headlights on and horns honking during the day. The problem of traffic jams here is the same every day due to the lack of alternative roads. Sometimes passengers have to go hungry due to the lack of phone service and the jungle. Drivers are also worried about the deterioration of the Daunne road. This section has become dangerous for trucks, buses, and motorcycles.
Driver Basant Khanal said, “It takes two to three hours to cross the 14-kilometer road. There is a constant need to bear dust, the vehicle shakes, and make a risky journey. Usually, vehicles coming from the federal capital Kathmandu and going to Kathmandu from other parts of the country reach here in the middle of the night. During this time, the suffering faced by passengers and drivers is compounded. The risk of accidents is also the same due to the dust that makes the road invisible,’ he said.
Laxman Tanagami, Deputy Inspector of Police at the Dumkiwas Area Police Office, also said that travel in this area is very difficult due to the lack of timely road construction. ‘The road in the Daunne section is narrow, uphill and downhill, with winding turns, and if one vehicle breaks down or another tries to cross the lane and move forward, there is a jam for hours,’ he said. ‘Since it is a narrow road with embankments, it takes time to manage the vehicles after they break down, so the problem of jams is more. We also have the same problem in traffic management.’
Currently, work is underway in this section to construct culverts and widen the road as part of the road expansion work. Most of the roads in the Daunne area are in one-way operation only. Traffic is disrupted for hours when goods vehicles break down on one-way roads, said Deputy Inspector of Police Tangami. “In the Daunne area, which is considered the most risky of the Narayangadh Butwal road section, Ghyu Khola and 83 bends are also considered to be the most accident-prone areas. These days, the number of small and large vehicle accidents has also increased in this section,” he said.
According to Engineer Shiva Khanal, Information Officer of the Eastern Section of the Narayangadh Butwal Road Project, one-way blacktop work has been done on 47 kilometers of the 65-kilometer road in the eastern section. Construction of culverts and the remaining bridges, base and sub-base work are underway at 13 places. Since the Daunne area is mountainous, erosion work is going on, so travel is difficult. He informed that the physical progress of the eastern section of the project so far is 57.7 percent.
Rakesh Jha, joint manager of construction company China State Construction Engineering, claimed that the construction work was carried out in a way that reduced disruption to vehicle movement. “Currently, more than 650 workers are being mobilized for the road expansion. We have mastered the most difficult mountain rocks in the Daunne area under the eastern section of the road project,” he said.
According to him, out of 65 kilometers of the 114-kilometer Narayangadh-Butwal road from Gaindakot to Daunne, there is a service lane in the market area, and work is underway to expand the road to three lanes in the risky 14-kilometer section of Daunne. The project, which was started at a cost of 17 billion, has had its deadline extended three times so far due to lack of work on time. The deadline extended for the third time will expire on 8th Shrawan 2082.
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