Residents Voluntarily Demolish Structures for Road Widening in Darbang Market

Myagdi. Residents of Darbang in Malika Rural Municipality-6 have spontaneously started demolishing the verandas and sheds of their houses to facilitate road expansion.

Locals are supporting the implementation of the project aimed at widening and blacktopping the road in Darbang Bazaar, which also serves as the rural municipality center, by dismantling their own structures. Path Bahadur Roka, Ward Chairman of Malika Rural Municipality-6, stated that local residents took the initiative to widen the narrow road leading from the ward office towards Bima by demolishing verandas and sheds.

"Homeowners have voluntarily helped by demolishing structures to widen the narrow road from the ward office towards Bima to six meters," he said. "Since the residents of Darbang, who have been waiting for a paved road, took the initiative to widen the road themselves, it has made the work easier for the contractor."

Mapping has been completed for the demolition of verandas and sheds of 36 houses in the Dhaulagiri Tole and 31 houses in the Naya Bazaar Tole. Mekh Pun, Chairman of Dhaulagiri Tole, stated that a decision was made through a meeting to provide the necessary land according to the standards and demolish the structures to widen the road.

In situations where residents in affected areas often refuse to demolish houses and structures for road expansion, the residents of Darbang have set a positive example. Miraj Gautam, Chairman of Naya Bazaar Tole, said that an agreement was reached to demolish structures with minimal damage, based on the consent of the homeowners.

Previously, last year, drainage structures spanning approximately 400 meters were constructed by removing structures on both sides of the road near Hulak Chowk, Tallo Darbang, Pulchowk, and the suspension bridge.

This year, planning has begun to pave and upgrade the road in Darbang Bazaar through a matching grant scheme from the Federal Government.

The contract was awarded to Sapkota Builders, which quoted NPR 12,682,888 during the bidding competition for the project, estimated to cost NPR 16,649,732.

Deepak Sapkota, Chief of the Infrastructure Branch at Malika Rural Municipality, informed that the contract agreement for the project was signed on Magh 30, 2082 BS, with a target completion date of Ashar 15, 2083 BS. According to him, this project will involve blacktopping 1 kilometer and 400 meters of road in the Tallo and Ullo Bazaar areas of Darbang.

Local residents expect that vehicle movement will become smoother after the road expansion and blacktopping. Due to the narrow internal roads in Darbang Bazaar, where the settlement has developed rapidly, vehicle movement is inconvenient and poses a risk of accidents. The area where Janapriya Secondary School is located, which has over 300 houses, had its road blacktopped two years ago through the Gandaki Province Government.