Road Connectivity Enhances Daily Life and Tourism in Gurja, Myagdi

Myagdi. Dekmaya Chhantyal of Gurja, Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality-1, who had come to the district headquarters Beni for administrative work this week, reached home in just five hours. “Earlier, it used to take about nine hours of walking to reach the rural municipality center, Muna, and an additional three hours by vehicle from there to Beni,” she said, “With the facility of road transport, I boarded a vehicle from Beni at 5:00 AM and reached home for lunch by 10:00 AM.”

Previously, it took about nine hours of walking uphill and downhill through cliffs, forests, and ravines to reach Muna from Gurja via Lulang. With the connection to the road network, the daily life of Gurja residents has become easier. Gurja, which has 265 households of the minority Chhantyal and Dalit communities, has its single settlement included in a single ward. The population here is 1,505. Ward member Gunaram Chhantyal said that it has become easier for Gurja residents to transport daily necessities, construction materials, and take patients to the hospital on time. “Earlier, we had to call a helicopter to take patients to the hospital or carry them to Lulang,” he said, “With the facility of vehicles, patients can be taken to the hospital easily and on time, and the transportation of food and other daily necessities has become easier and cheaper.”

Tourist Footfall Increases

With the opening of the route to Gurja through the Lulang-Gurja road project, jeeps, tractors, and motorcycles have started operating for the past month. 88-year-old Chanmati Chhantyal said that with the vehicles, relatives have also started visiting and coming for sightseeing. Another local, Gunprasad Bishwakarma, expressed happiness with the arrival of vehicles in the village. “With the operation of vehicles, it has become easier to market agricultural, livestock, and medicinal products,” he said, “Tourist footfall in Gurja has started increasing.” Tourists from various places in Myagdi district as well as from cities like Pokhara and Kathmandu are increasingly visiting Gurja. In Gurja, known as a hidden settlement, one can observe Chhantyal culture, lifestyle, mines, mountains, flora, medicinal herbs, livestock sheds, and wildlife.

All Wards of Myagdi Connected to Road Network

Premprasad Pun, chairman of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality, said that the Lulang-Gurja road, a partnership between the rural municipality, provincial, and federal governments, is the district's priority project. “We have succeeded in expanding transport facilities to Gurja via Khoriya, Lamsung, and Lulang by opening the road route stuck at Mahatala cliff in ward number 2 four years ago,” he said, “Not only all seven wards of Dhaulagiri but also all 45 wards of the six local levels in Myagdi are now connected to the transport network.” The distance of the road from Lulang to Gurja is about 22 kilometers. The road route from Lulang to Gurja was started in the fiscal year 2079-080. In the current fiscal year, the selected contractor company, Lulu Construction, had signed a contract for Rs 8.885 million to open the road route from Lulang in Rs 17 million budget allocated in the current fiscal year.

Demand for Road Upgradation

Transport entrepreneur Lukesh Rasaili said that the road section at Deurali and Latrang, on the border of Lulang and Gurja, needs to be upgraded. He stated that the road in the Deurali and Latrang areas, located at an altitude of three thousand meters, needs to be widened, curves adjusted, and paved and soling done. “We have to cross the Latrang-Deurali section before the snow melts in winter and before it rains from the sky in the monsoon,” he said, “Vehicles struggle to climb on muddy and slippery roads, get stuck, and driving on narrow curves is equally risky.” A motorable bridge is needed over the Kamja Khola near Gurja. Currently, vehicles travel through the river. Gurja residents living in Kathmandu have launched a fundraising campaign to build a temporary bridge over Kamja Khola. Resham Punmagar, vice-chairperson of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality, said that the remaining work of the contract from the current fiscal year and the Rs 50 million budget transferred by the provincial government will be used for improvement, repair, and upgrading in difficult sections. The project for which the provincial government has sent Rs 5 million to the municipality is in the process of contract signing. The provincial government has started constructing a 25-meter-long motorable bridge over Dar Khola at Lamsung, which falls on the road connecting to Gurja.

Conception of High Mountain Highway Connecting Dolpa via Gurja

Jhak Chhantyal, ward chairperson of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality-1 Gurja, said that if a high mountain highway connecting Dolpa in Karnali Province via Gurja can be built, it would provide a shorter route to Kathmandu for the residents of Dolpa, Mugu, and Jumla. “If the route used by Gurja residents in the past to go to Vot for salt and take their herds to Dolpa is made into a road, it will be possible to reach Kathmandu from Dolpa within 500 kilometers,” he said, “As it falls in a high mountain and high hilly geography, the road connecting Dolpa via Gurja in Myagdi can be developed as a high mountain route.” Ward Chairperson Chhantyal said that proposals for a high mountain highway connecting Gurja and Dolpa have been made to the federal and provincial governments through Member of Parliament Mahabir Pun and Gandaki Province Assembly member Resham Bahadur Jugjali, elected from Myagdi 1(b).