Dust and Disappointment: Udayapur Residents' Two-Decade Wait for Paved Road Ahead of Elections

Udayapur. Dust everywhere you look, anger in every heart. This has been the condition of Bed Bahadur Tamang of Kolbot, Katari Municipality-8, Udayapur, for years. His days are spent sweeping dust, and his heart fills with resentment. Tamang, who runs a tea stall in Betini, has harbored the same dream for two decades—that the road in front of his house would be paved. That dream remains unfulfilled. Now, it is election season again, and promises are being distributed, but none of the leaders who sought his vote in the four elections from BS 2064 until now have managed to fulfill those dreams. That is why none of those he voted for have been re-elected.

Candidates have changed, but Tamang's fate of complaining about dust and suffering the problem has not. "This must be called our irony; the leaders who won elections on the promise of paving this road, today that same road remains dilapidated, dusty, and risky. Our suffering is the same," he said.

Currently, the election fervor has intensified in Udayapur-2. For the House of Representatives election scheduled for the upcoming Falgun 21, there are 13 candidates, including one independent, in this constituency. They are rushing to the doorsteps of the 96,122 voters here. Party contact offices have opened in every locality. In Katari Bazaar, considered the center of the area, all major parties have established regional election contact offices and are increasing their campaign activities. Door-to-door canvassing is also underway, but instead of enthusiasm, a 'storm' of anger is brewing in the minds of the voters. The question remains the same: Will the Mirchaiya–Katari–Ghurmi section of the Siddhicharan Highway get a new look after this election? Or will this road only become an 'election issue' again in the next election?

For Bed Bahadur, this road is not just a means of transit; it represents two decades of continuous betrayal by the politics and the state here. Showing the thick layer of dust settled on his shop shelf, he says, "When elections come, the sweet talk of leaders tempts the heart, but after they win, the dust they kick up darkens not just our eyes but our future. Twenty years ago, they sought votes promising this road would be built; today, they are saying the same thing. We have just become voting machines, mere vote banks."

Tamang's voice reflects not just anger but also extreme distrust in the state. He says, "If anyone thinks this is just talk, let them ride a motorcycle from Katari to Ghurmi once and see. Only when they return with faces unrecognizable due to dust will they understand our pain. Leaders travel inside vehicles with closed windows; how would the dust outside affect them?"

Tamang's anger is not just that of one individual but the shared voice of all of Udayapur-2. Because of this voice, the local people keep changing representatives in every election over the last two decades, hoping their dream will finally be realized. Many consider this a form of 'silent popular revolt' due to the lack of development. The people here gave responsibility to all major parties in turn, hoping to transform this road section, but locals complain that none of them managed to fulfill it.

In BS 2064, Mohan Bahadur Khatri of the then CPN (Maoist), in BS 2070, Narayan Bahadur Karki of the Nepali Congress, in BS 2074, Suresh Kumar Rai from the CPN (UML)-Maoist coalition, and most recently in 2079, Ammar Bahadur Rayamajhi of the UML were elected, with the residents placing great trust in them. Regardless of which party's leader was elected, this route connecting the Siddhicharan Highway and Halesi remained merely a cheap subject for election speeches and assurances. "No matter which party's leader came, no one understood our pain," says local youth Bijendra Ranamagar from Katari-11 Katunje, venting his frustration. "Leaders travel around kicking up dust in their fancy vehicles with closed windows, while we are forced to fight disease and hunger from that very dust."

The seventy-two-kilometer-long Siddhicharan Highway is the 'lifeline' connecting the three districts of upper Sagarmatha—Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, and Khotang—to Biratnagar, the capital of Koshi Province. This lifeline has now become like a death line due to its dilapidated condition.

After the 'track' for Mirchaiya–Katari opened in BS 2034, the construction of the Katari–Okhaldhunga road began in 2048 under the initiative of the late Bal Bahadur Rai. Although transportation has been operating on the Katari–Ghurmi section (46 km) of the highway since BS 2058, its condition has not changed for two decades. While the Ghurmi–Okhaldhunga section has been paved, the Mirchaiya–Katari–Ghurmi section (72 km) remains neglected. Consequently, people are forced to undertake a risky journey taking more than five hours for a distance that should take two hours.

This road section is also strategically very important. The Katari–Ghurmi section connects the Madan Bhandari Lok Marg and Mahendra Highway in the south, and reaching Ghurmi in the north serves as a link to Kathmandu via the Mid-Hill Local Route and BP Highway. The lack of upgrading this crucial road network is pushing back the economy and daily life of the entire eastern hill region.

This is the main route to Halesi, the famous religious site considered the Pashupatinath of the East. Pilgrims traveling to Halesi from the Terai-Madhes have faced accidents here many times. Tourists hesitate to use this route due to the risky journey. Kumar Pyakurel, the 'supervisor' of this road, says, "Passengers who use this route once do not want to come again. It takes three hours for small vehicles to cover 46 kilometers, and six to seven hours for large vehicles. Therefore, passengers are forced to use the alternative, winding Sindhulim–Khurkot–Ghurmi route."

The impact of the unpaved road is most severely felt in trade and the daily lives of the locals. Local residents find it difficult not only to transport clothes and food items but also to save their agricultural produce and vegetables.

Katari Bazaar itself is historic. It is history that Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary walked from here on foot when they went to climb Mount Everest. Therefore, it is called the 'Gateway to Sagarmatha,' but the business community at this very gateway is choosing the path of migration.

The dreams of many youths who returned from abroad with the ambition to do something in their own country have also been crushed by this road. Amar Moktan, who returned after sweating it out in Qatar for five years, opened a grocery store in Betini with the hope of doing something locally, but the dust of 14 years has now left him disheartened. "It's hard to even store goods. It's difficult to protect them from dust," he says. "Dust spoils the goods, customers don't come. So how can the business run?"

The plight of these business owners is not limited to Amar Moktan. In the experience of young businessman Kumar Shrestha from Gahubari, the miserable condition of the road has become a 'trap' for business. He states that businesses are becoming further crippled due to a lack of customers because of the dilapidated road.

The dust on this road has blown away dreams to such an extent that Dhiraj Bhujel, who started a hotel in Hardeni with an investment of about Rs five lakh, not only left his hometown six months ago but was forced to migrate to the desert for foreign employment. Similarly, Sanchiv Basnet from Gahubari, Katari-11, gave up his six years of struggle and closed his business. After the smoke and dust ruined not only the shop's inventory but also his dreams, he returned to his ancestral occupation of farming. "I felt it was better to dig the soil and engage in agriculture than to eat dust and run a business; at least that sustains livelihood," says Basnet. "If this road had been built, there would have been a different vibrancy in the market here. People from Siraha and Saptari in the Terai would come to escape the heat in this cool climate of the Mahabharat region. The neglect of the road has turned this paradise given by nature into something like hell."

The impact of this road on the education and health sectors is even more devastating. The dust from the road has reached not only the shop shelves but also the classrooms and the lungs of young children. The question posed by Dinesh Rayamajhi, the principal of Saraswati Secondary School in Hardeni, Katari-11, mocks the helplessness of the state. He says, "Our students enter the classroom having consumed a handful of dust every day on their way to school. Stand and watch for a moment; the color of the clothes worn by those children becomes unrecognizable due to the dust. This is not just about the road; this is a serious gamble with the health and future of the children. Who will take responsibility for their deteriorating health now?"

According to him, due to the dust, problems like persistent coughing, itchy eyes, and respiratory issues are increasing among students. The poor condition of the Siddhicharan Highway is posing serious problems not only for the present but also for the coming generation.

The Mirchaiya–Katari–Ghurmi Road Project Office, established in Katari for the upgrading of this road, has been in operation for five years. According to the office's information officer, Engineer Birendra Prasad Mahato, the 26-kilometer stretch from Mirchaiya to Katari is in the upgrading phase, but the condition from Maruwa Khola to Ghurmi is precarious.

Although Rs 1.03 billion has been allocated in the current fiscal year 2082/83, the contract process has not moved forward due to various protests and procedural issues like Environmental Impact Assessment. The budget allocated this year for the project, estimated to cost a total of Rs 10 billion, is at risk of being 'frozen.' Mahato says, "The multi-year file has been advanced according to the 2082 standards, but the contract process is uncertain because the source is not secured."

The local people here have no avenue left to plead for the road upgrade. They have tried every measure, from local levels to representatives in provincial and federal parliaments, from ministry offices to road blockades. Locals often say, "Many shoes have worn out running to ministries carrying files of assurances, but the road condition hasn't changed. Now there is no place left to complain."

Now, there is an election celebration again. After Falgun 21, Udayapur Constituency 2 will surely get a new representative, but will the dilapidated road get a new look? Or will this road only become an 'election issue' and a 'political slogan' again in the next election? Citizens whose faces are unrecognizable due to dust are now starting to say, "We don't want leaders who only give assurances; we want a paved road."