33 years of construction, 43 kilometers Doti road struggling for completion

Doti– Construction of the 43 kilometers Bogatan road that will link Dipayal has yet to be completed 33 years after the foundation stone was laid for the project. Of the total 108 kilometers for which the foundation stone was laid, 43 kilometers track is yet to be opened, said Roj Bahadur Kalel of Badikedar Rural Municipality. "I was a kid when construction of the road started. Now I am ageing, but the road is still not completed," he said. 

Promises of political leaders come and go. Once they get elected, their promises die with it. They never look back at villages at least until next elections, complained the locals. 

Delay in evaluating environmental affect in forest areas along the road is blamed for the sluggish construction.

The road will link two rural municipalities of Kailali district and four of Doti district. As a result, the locals have been affected for want of road connectivity. They have to walks hours to reach nearby town, and their agricultural products go to waste for want of a reliable means of transportation to take them to the market. "Our village is ahead of agricultural produce. But farmers are finding it difficult to take it to the market for want of a reliable means of transportation," said chairperson of Badikedar Rural Municipality Krishna Bahadur Chand. 

Of the 65 kilometers road constructed, preparations are underway to blacktop 50 kilometers, said local resident Bam Bahadur Kalel.