By Hari Prasad Koirala
Urlabari, Aug. 20: The contracting company handed over the Kanepokhari-Rangeli Postal Road to the people of Morang on March 31. The road was handed over 21 months after the stipulated deadline but still, the people were happy as 25.40-kilometre road was finally complete.
Being the oldest road of the district, it holds a lot of sentimental value for the people of Morang and with the latest constructions under the Postal Highway Project, they were excited that the road would provide a direct connection between Letang in northern Morang and Cherpaha, India.

However, even though the road is complete, the construction company did not cover the roadside drainage canals in Aaitabare, Ramailo, Bhaunsabari and Daleli Bazaar, which has made it impossible for the residents of these areas to take their vehicles out of their houses.
Padam Prasad Koirala, a resident of Aaitabare, Kanepokhari Rural Municipality–7, called it a great tragedy to see the road in front of his house but not be able to use it because of the uncovered canal.
“Because the canal is uncovered, we cannot take our vehicles out. The drainage is too wide for our vehicles to cross without the wheels falling in and the vehicles are too heavy for us to be able to carry them across,” he said, adding that he could not even take his tractor to plough the fields this year because of it.

According to Koirala, people cannot cover the 30 feet wide canal on their own because the slabs needed cost more than Rs. 100,000.The locals also informed that several vehicles had fallen into the open canal while plying the postal road, causing accidents and injuries.
Lama, Danphe, The Kanchanjunga Construction Pvt. Ltd. had won the contract to blacktop the road and construct roadside drains on June 20, 2017. It was supposed to complete everything and hand over the road to the Postal Highway Project by June 20, 2019.

However, citing delays in the supply of construction materials and the COVID-19 pandemic, the company handed over the road only in March 2021 and even then, did not cover the drains.
Meanwhile, Tendi Sherpa, operator of the construction company, claimed that 99 per cent of the work on the postal road had been completed. “We do need to put slabs over drains in some places and erect milestones in some places. But all other works are complete,” he said.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Rohit Bisural, director of the Postal Highway Directorate, stated that the company would not receive its payment until it completed everything. He informed that the company was working under the supervision of an Indian supervision consultancy which would not forward any payment recommendations to the directorate until all the work, including covering the drains, fencing the culverts and erecting milestones, was finished.

Tanuj Bajpayee, in-charge of the Indian consultancy, informed that only 97.02 per cent of the work was complete. As the photograph shows no slaves over drainage has been causing locals to cross