By Prakash Chandra Bhattarai, Damauli, June 29: Colloquially known as Tanahun’s Karnali, Devghat has always been regarded as an isolated place cut off from the nearby cities and towns.

However, the Rural Municipality has taken quite a leap in infrastructural development. Thanks to the local authority’s focus on building rural road links, motorable roads have now reached all the wards within Devghat.

Surrounded by the Trishuli, Seti-Madi, and Kaligandaki rivers from three sides, Devghat Rural Municipality has allocated a significant amount of budget in the last few years to make remote settlements more accessible by road, according to Rural Municipality chairman Durga Bahadur Thapa.

“When I assumed the post as an elected official, road facilities at Devghat seemed like a far cry. Surrounded by rivers on all three sides, careful planning is required to build roads here,” added Thapa.

Today, vehicles can easily travel to Devghat -- a feat which Thapa attributes to the all-around support from Federal Government, Provincial Government along the local level’s own effort in mobilising its resources.

According to chairman Thapa, just recently, the road from Gaighat to Sinchyang has been upgraded under the Gaighat-Sinchyang-Chipchipe-Sanobhanjyang road with a conditional grant of Rs. 10 million from the Provincial Government.

Similarly, Rs. 19.8 million has been allocated for the Sinchyang-Sarwang-Saranghat motorway under the supplementary grant provided by the federal government in addition to the Rural Municipality’s internal resources.

Moreover, the ambitious new track, known as the Devghat-Saune-Kartap-Phosrepani road, also dubbed as the Rural Municipality’s pride project, is nearing completion.

“Devghat will be fully interlinked with roadway once the pride project track joins the Gaighat-Sinchyang-Chipchipe-Sanobhanjyang road.” According to Thapa, the priority now is to build motorable bridges across the three rivers that surround Devghat.

So far, Devghat is connected by a bridge only from Dasdhunga in Chitwan. Another bridge connecting Devghat to Thimura has also been under construction, but its fate remains shrouded in uncertainty.