Certain conditions must be met to make development dream a reality. One of them, and probably the most vital one, is infrastructure. Poor infrastructure, or lack of it, pushes us backwards to centuries. That remains the major reason of backwardness and poverty. With epoch making political transformation, Nepal has made a positive paradigm shift in development approach with focus on prosperity to all. But some contradictions and paradoxes still exist. One such case came to light through a news report carried by this daily on Thursday. According to the news report dispatched from the remote district of Humla, local people of Bokchegauda have to use tuin or cable bridge to cross the Karnali river. This is a risky structure in which people sit on a roughly designed basket which moves along a single cable with the help of a pulley. Compelled by the urgency of daily business, the users of the cable crossing not only have to compromise their life safety but have to pay Rs. 100 for a single journey across the river. If somebody has to take his goods across the river, he will have to pay extra charge of Rs. 50.

Using such a primitive mode of technology for river crossing has been a compulsion as the nearest suspension bridge is too far away and impractical. Let us hope that this situation is not going stay for a long time. It is reported that the Kharpu-Sunkhada section of the Karnali corridor road is under construction and the tuin crossing has been devised to facilitate the crossing. Though it may be a temporary arrangement, the issue of safety cannot be ignored. More than that, it is blatantly irrational to charge money for using a transport infrastructure. Why is the government not providing free infrastructure to the people instead of making it a source of income for contractors?

Some individuals are reported to have constructed the rope crossing and one can assume that the users of the tuin are charged to recover the construction costs. Such a situation arises when the state refrains from fulfilling its responsibility towards the grassroots people. The local level government concerned should have taken the initiative. If that is not financially viable, the federal government should come forward to address such issue, especially in a remote region like Karnali. We often hear in the news that a large chunk of development budget remains unspent and ultimately freezes. In this regard, operation of a paid tuin in this impoverished and backward region is an irony. A tuin is not powered and it cannot be used as a suspension bridge. The basket under the pulley where the traveler sits, has to be pulled along with the help of a rope. The attendant who does this manual job collects the bridge fare.

Karna Bahadur Rawal, chairman of Kharpunath Gaupalika, has been using this risky mode of crossing to go to his office every day. Rawal made news headlines in the media for his daily office travel, and in a positive note it drew the attention of the Office of the Prime Minister in Singha Durbar. This comes as a serious issue in regards to the declaration of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli that all the tuins will be phased out and be replaced by suspension bridges. The PMO has given assurance to construct a suspension bridge to replace the tuin which is most welcome. The sooner the work starts the better.