Voters in Dang's Constituency 2 Question Development Despite Electing High-Profile Leaders

Dang. Voters in Dang Constituency No. 2 have elected major political heavyweights in previous elections. Representatives elected from this constituency have served as ministers and chief ministers.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Rekha Sharma of the then CPN (Maoist Centre) were elected alternately from this constituency. Not only former Speaker Mahara and former Minister Sharma, but UML leader Shankar Pokhrel was elected to the Provincial Assembly from this constituency and became the Chief Minister.

Pokhrel, who is also the General Secretary of the CPN-UML, is now a candidate for the House of Representatives from this same constituency.

However, voters who elected influential leaders complain that they have not felt the impact of development. While infrastructure work, including road construction, has been done within the Ghorahi Metropolitan City area, voters complain that issues directly related to their daily lives, such as employment, quality education, and health, have not been addressed.

Chet Bahadur KC, a resident of Banglachuli Rural Municipality-6, responds by asking, "What development?" He said, "I hear that those elected from this constituency say they have done development. I haven't noticed any development. If they have developed in a way we haven't noticed, then they should be the ones to go [back to power]."

KC argues that employment is primarily necessary to raise the standard of living for the people. "They say the youth have gone abroad. The number of people going abroad is increasing daily," he said. "Only old people like us are left in the village. There is no employment for the youth. What is there to do here?"

KC suggests that even if employment cannot be created in their own villages, if youth can be employed somewhere within the country according to their skills, their visits to their villages during festivals and holidays would increase. He said, "If that happens, the vehicles running on the newly built roads will get passengers. Those who have opened hotels and shops will get customers. Only then will the country feel dynamic."

Khusman Chaudhary of Ghorahi-16 also states that work has not been done as expected. "When they come asking for votes, they say they will do this and that, but after winning, we don't see them working to uplift our standard of living," he said. "Now they come to every house to greet us, but after winning the election and reaching a higher position, they don't even return our greetings."

Khusman stated that he no longer has faith in the old parties. "Now there must be a change," he said.

Before he could finish asking, "What kind of change?" he answered, "Our fathers and grandfathers wore loincloths; should we also walk around wearing them? That's not it. We are wearing clothes appropriate for the times. Change is like that too. We need change now."

Gopilal Chaudhary of Ghorahi-17 says that leaders of old parties are campaigning by citing the development they have done. However, he does not consider that development. "What development happened?" he asked. "Until the standard of living of the people becomes easier, what should we call development?"

He stated that arrangements for employment should be made for the workforce willing to work. "We have voted in every election, haven't we?" he said. "People become big after getting our votes. We have been in this poverty for years. Our situation has not improved."

Dal Bahadur Dangi of Ghorahi-6 says that the country has failed to create employment opportunities. "The government has not been able to provide employment to those who want to work hard right here," he said. "My son has gone abroad for employment because the situation here is not sustainable for working."

He mentioned that little work has been done in the areas of education, health, and employment. He complained that even though they live within the metropolitan area, water taps have not been installed in their locality.

Rajita Chaudhary Budha from the same ward says that development cannot be accepted until employment is created. "How can we accept it as development if we cannot increase the income of the people?" she said. "If development has occurred, do people from developed areas have to go abroad for simple employment? Someone from every household has gone abroad for work."

Narayan Rawat of Ghorahi-16 credits the development in Dang to the late Congress leader Khum Bahadur Khadka. "No other leader has done as much development in this area as Khum Bahadur Khadka did," he said. "No matter how much anyone claims, what we have seen and experienced is that."

Rawat claims that not much development work took place during the tenures of Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Rekha Sharma. He mentioned that some development projects are currently underway, but due to the race between UML General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel and Congress leader Deepak Giri to take credit for these projects, it is unclear who is actually responsible for them.

Rawat stated that good governance and the creation of employment opportunities are the main agendas now. He said, "These agendas have been raised since the past, but not much has been done."