By Our Correspondent, Urlabari, July 16: A recent flood has swept away a newly built culvert of Morang’s Mechedangi, Urlabari-1. Just nine days after completion, the structure was completely destroyed by flooding on the night of July 8.

Despite a chorus of pleas from the locals advising the authority against building the culvert during peak monsoon season, the Municipality gave a green signal to the ill-fated project. “Residents are distraught over such negligence and the outcome it has engendered,” laments Narendra Paudel, a local.

The episode is eerily similar to last year’s event at the Mechedangi when a similar culvert got destroyed by the river current during the monsoon. While the municipality had pledged to build a sturdier structure this time around, the contracting company has reportedly done an awful job, claim several locals.

According to them, the contracting company had not even used four feet of reinforced concrete under the culvert. Agni and Sons Construction Services Kankali-3, Jhapa, is the contracting company responsible for building the culvert.

As per the information in the Municipality’s Planning Board, the company entered into a contract to build the infrastructure on June 21 at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,735,659 (Rs. 1.735 million).

Seven days later, on June 29, the culvert was said to be complete and operational only to come tumbling down on the night of July 8 — nine days after wrapping up construction.

“It raises a question: What good did spending all that money accomplish? The work should have been delayed until the end of the monsoon. Second, the construction company should not have hurried to finish the work while compromising safety and quality,” said Poudel.

Another culvert constructed in Hiledangi of the same ward has also faced a fate similar to that of the Mechedangi culvert.

“We haven’t paid these contractor companies in full. We have extended the construction deadline until mid-October to rebuild these collapsed projects,” informs Deputy Chief of the Municipality Laxmidevi Bhandari.