Army Deployed for Mahakali River Guideband Reconstruction

Mahendranagar. The Nepali Army has been deployed since Saturday for the reconstruction of the guideband on the north side of the four-lane concrete bridge constructed on the Mahakali River in Bhimdatta Municipality-12, Kanchanpur. Last year in Baishakh, the government had declared the Mahakali Bridge Project a disaster-affected area for three months and assigned the task of constructing the guideband and protecting the riverside settlements of Bhimdatta Municipality to the Nepali Army. Just on Friday, the Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Sunil Lamsal, arrived here for an on-site inspection of the bridge project and the guideband damaged by the flood last year. Immediately after, the government deployed the Nepali Army again on Saturday to reconstruct the damaged guideband and mitigate potential damage from the upcoming monsoon. The army personnel have been mobilized for the project under the leadership of the Road Division Office, Kanchanpur, at the site of the damaged guideband. During this, the commander of the Nepali Army's Shri No. 25 Brigade Barracks, Bhagatpur, Brigadier General Bijitraj Regmi, along with a military technical team, has also visited to gather information about the condition of the damaged area. The brigade has started work to minimize immediate damage, prevent further damage, protect the four-lane bridge, and safeguard the riverside settlements. For this, army teams from various places under the Sudurpashchim Division are arriving here. During the monitoring of the damaged guideband area, the Chief District Officer of Kanchanpur, Madan Koirala, urged the Division Road Office to seek necessary local support for the immediate reconstruction work. "Local support can also be obtained for materials like tippers," he said, "and manpower support will be fully provided by the army." Last year too, because the army completed the assigned responsibility, the Mahakali River could not cause much damage to the guideband. This year too, the army has been deployed as per the assigned responsibility to protect the guideband and prevent further damage. Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Chief of the Road Division Office, Kanchanpur, stated that the guideband was damaged for about 300 meters by last year's flood. "The army team is engaged in reconstruction focused on the damaged area," he said, "and we will provide machinery and technical support, while manpower is provided by the army." Although 95 percent of the concrete bridge construction is complete, the construction company has been out of work since last year due to the delay in the approval of the new design of the guideband and the variation order (VO). The dispute between the bridge construction entrepreneur and the road department is currently under discussion in arbitration.