Locals risk their lives crossing Tursu River

By Our Correspondent, Dailekh, July 20: Locals are being forced to risk their lives while crossing the Tursu River after a bridge connecting Meheltoli in Ward No. 3 and Jagannath in Ward No. 4 of Bhagwatimai Rural Municipality has yet to be built.

During the monsoon, rising water levels make travel extremely difficult and also make it hard for patients to reach Santada Hospital. ¬¬

Janak Adhikari, a local, said that during the rainy season, people have no option but to leave their motorcycles on one side of the river and cross on foot. 

He added that ambulances are unable to reach the village during emergencies. Schoolchildren also face difficulties travelling to and from school, while transporting sick people to Santada Hospital becomes nearly impossible when the river is swollen.

Ward chair of Bhagwatimai Rural Municipality-3, Man Bahadur Khadka, said that although a temporary wooden bridge is installed across the Tursu River every year, it either rots during the rainy season, is washed away by floods, or has to be removed once the monsoon ends.

He said a technical cost estimate of Rs. 750,000 had been prepared to install a steel truss bridge capable of accommodating motorcycles, but the project has not been implemented. 

He added that despite repeated requests to the rural municipality, locals continue to face the recurring problem of having to construct temporary wooden crossings every year.

Rural Municipality chair Ganesh Bahadur Thapa expressed regret that the project had not moved forward despite budget allocations being made to address residents’ needs. 

He said it was unfortunate that construction had not begun even after technical estimates had been prepared.

Rural Municipality engineer Brajag Pariyar said the technical estimate had been prepared based on the allocated budget but acknowledged that the available funds were insufficient to construct the bridge. 

He added that although there had been discussions about securing around Rs. 10 million through the federal government’s Local Infrastructure Programme, the construction process has yet to begin.

According to him, there had initially been a plan to allocate disaster management funds to build a truss bridge that would allow motorcycles to cross. However, after the budget was reduced to Rs. 200,000, the project could no longer proceed.