Locals demand road upgrading

Palpa: The youths from the Nisdi rural municipality of Palpa district have demanded the upgrading of a local road. They staged a sit-in at the office of the local level to exert pressure on their representatives.

The dwellers here have been facing sheer inconvenience due to not having a good road section stretching from Rampur Beldanda to Mityal Arunkhola via Dhunganabensi. This road establishes links to Lumbini and Gandaki Provinces as well.

The Nawalpur section of the roadway has been upgraded, but the delay in upgrading the Palpa section has forced locals to mount pressure on their representatives.

It is worrying that the roadway with the opening of the track over five decades ago, is awaiting improvement. A local Kamal Saru said they were pressing the local government to forward activities to upgrade and blacktop the roadway.

“We, the people from Nisdi, are gifted with dust and mud, causing much hassles. Why are people’s representatives not paying heed to it,” he shared the plight. The youths demonstrated carrying placards. As the local government is preparing a budget for coming fiscal year, they are for prioritizing the upgrading of this road section.

However, Chairman of Nisdi rural municipality, Mukta Bahadur Saru, said the road section was under the federal government, so the province and local governments could not spend on their own for the enhancement of road quality. He blamed the federal government for not allocating budget to maintain road standard.

Saru, however, said the rural municipality would prod the concerned bodies to advance the process as per people’s demand. The locals have been expressing dismay over the ignorance to their demands despite repeated prodding.