Udayapur-2: Representatives keep changing, road condition has not changed for two decades

लगानी न्यूज

२२ माघ २०८२, बिहीबार १०:२८February 5, 2026

Udaipur. Everywhere he looked, there was anger in his heart. Bed Bahadur Tamang of Kolbot in Katari Municipality-8 of Udayapur has been in a similar situation for years. Every day is spent sweeping away dust, and anger arises in the mind.

Tamang, who runs a tea shop in Betini, has been dreaming of the same thing for two decades – the road in front of his house has been blacktopped.TAG_OPEN_div_88 That dream has not been fulfilled yet. This time there is an election atmosphere, dreams have already started being distributed, but no one who has asked for votes in four elections since 2006 BS has been able to fulfill those dreams. That’s why none of those who voted for him have come back.

The candidates have changed, but the fate of Tamang complaining about the dust and facing problems has not changed. “It is an irony that the same road that the leaders had won the election with the promise of blacktopping the road is still in the same dilapidated, dusty and risky condition,” he said. Our sorrows are the same,” he said.

Recently the election excitement has increased again in Udayapur-2. There are 13 candidates including one independent candidate in the constituency for the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 4. They are working hard to reach the doorsteps of 96,122 voters here. The party’s liaison offices have been opened in every locality. All the major political parties have set up regional election liaison offices in Katari Bazaar, which is considered the center of the region, to increase the race of candidates. The door-to-door program is also going on, but there is no enthusiasm in the minds of the voters, but there is a ‘storm’ of anger. The question is the same: Will the Mirchaiya-Katari-Ghurmi section of the Siddhicharan Highway get a new look after this election? Or will this road again become a ‘vote seeking issue’ in the next election?

For Bed Bahadur, this road is not just a means of transportation, it is a continuous betrayal by the politics and the state for the last two decades.TAG_OPEN_div_82 Pointing to a thick layer of dust on the shelf of his shop, he says, “When elections come, the shouts of the leaders attract the mind, but after winning, the dust they blow will not only cloud our eyes but also the future.” 20 years ago, they were asked to vote for the construction of the same road. We are just a voting machine, just a vote bank. ”

Tamang’s voice reflects not only anger but also extreme distrust of the state. He says, “If anyone thinks this is just gossip, then take a motorcycle and go from Katari to Ghurmi.” Our pain is known only when we return, as our faces are unrecognizable by the dust. The leaders walk inside the car with the glass locked, what would the dust outside touch them?”

This outrage of Tamang is not only the voice of one person, but the common voice of the entire Udayapur-2.TAG_OPEN_div_78 Voters here have been changing their representatives in every election in the last two decades, hoping that they can fulfill their dreams because of this voice. There are many who say that it is also a kind of ‘silent people’s uprising’ after the lack of development. Locals complain that the people of the area have given responsibility to all the major political parties in turn with the hope of changing the face of this road section, but none of them have been able to fulfill it.

Mohan Bahadur Khatri of the then CPN (Maoist) in 2064 BS, Narayan Bahadur Karki of the Nepali Congress in 2070 BS, Suresh Kumar Rai of the CPN-UML-Maoist alliance in 2074 BS and Ammar Bahadur Rayamajhi of the CPN (UML) in 2079 BS had put a lot of trust in the local people.TAG_OPEN_div_76 Whoever was elected, this route connecting Siddhicharan Highway and Halesi became only a cheap subject of election speeches and assurances. “No matter which party leader came, no one understood our pain,” said Bijendra Rana Magar, a local youth of Katari-11, Katunje. ”

The seventy TAG_OPEN_div_74-two-kilometer-long Siddhicharan Highway is a lifeline connecting the three districts of the Upper Sagarmatha—Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga and Khotang—with Biratnagar, the capital of Koshi Province. This lifeline has now become like a death line when it is dilapidated.

After the opening of the Mirchaiya-Katari track in 2034 BS, the construction of the Katari-Okhaldhunga road was started in 2048 BS at the initiative of the late Bal Bahadur Rai.TAG_OPEN_div_72 Though transportation was opened on the 46-km Katari-Ghurmi section of the highway since 2058 BS, its condition has not changed for two decades. The Ghurmi-Okhaldhunga section has been blacktopped while the 72-km Mirchaiya-Katari-Ghurmi section is still neglected. Therefore, it takes more than five hours to travel to Sadam which is a distance of two hours.

TAG_OPEN_div_70 This road section is also strategically important. The Katari-Ghurmi section connects the Madan Bhandari Highway and Mahendra Highway in the south and the road connects to Kathmandu via the BP Highway via the mid-hill highway. The lack of upgradation of such an important road network has pushed back the economy and livelihood of the entire eastern hills.

This is the main route to Halesi, a famous religious place known as Pashupatinath in the east.TAG_OPEN_div_68 Pilgrims going from Tarai-Madhes to Halesi have been victims of accidents here many times. Tourists are reluctant to use this route because of the risky journey. Kumar Pyakurel, supervisor of this road, said, “Passengers who used this road once do not want to come again. Small vehicles take three hours to cover the 46 km distance while large vehicles take six to seven hours. Therefore, commuters are compelled to use the alternative route of Sindhuli-Khurkot-Ghurmi. ”

Businesses and the daily lives of the locals have been hit the hardest due to the lack of roads.TAG_OPEN_div_66 It is difficult for the people here to not only provide clothes and food items, but also to protect the crops and vegetables in the fields.

Katari Bazaar is historic in itself. There is a history of Tenjingnorge Sherpa and Edmund Hillary walking through Mt Everest while climbing Mt Everest. That is why it is called the ‘gateway to Mount Everest’, but the businessmen of this entrance are choosing the route of migration.

} The dream of many youths who have returned from abroad and dreamed of doing something in the country has also been crushed by this road. Amar Moktan, who returned home after toiling in Qatar for five years, opened a grocery shop in Betini to do something in his own place, but the dust for 14 years has now disappointed him. “It’s hard to keep stuff. It is difficult to protect ourselves from dust,” he said, adding, “Dust spoils the goods and customers do not come.” And how does the business work?”

This pain of the businessmen is not limited to Amar Moktan.TAG_OPEN_div_60 Kumar Shrestha, a young entrepreneur from Gahunbari, feels that the poor condition of the road has become a trap for business. According to him, the business is further deteriorating due to the lack of service seekers due to the dilapidated road.

{{TAG_OPEN_div_58} The dust of this road shattered his dreams in such a way that Dhiraj Bhujel, who started a hotel in Hardeni with an investment of about five lakh rupees, not only left his place six months ago but was also forced to go to the desert for foreign employment. Similarly, Sanjeev Basnet of Katari-11, Gahunbari, abandoned his six-year-old struggle and shut down his business. After smoke and dust destroyed not only the shop’s belongings but also his dreams, he returned to farming.

} “I thought it was better to dig the soil and engage in agriculture instead of doing business by eating dust, this is how we earn a living,” Basnet said, adding, “If this road was constructed, there would have been a different hustle and bustle in the market.” People from Siraha and Saptari in the Terai would come to escape the heat in this cool climate of the Mahabharat region. This heaven-like place given by nature was made like hell due to the neglect of the road. ”

TAG_OPEN_div_54 The impact of this road on education and health is even more dire. Road dust has reached not only the shelves of shops but also the classrooms of schools and the lungs of young children. Dinesh Rayamajhi, the principal of Saraswati Secondary School in Katari-11, Hardeni, is mocking the state’s helplessness. “Our students come to school and eat a handful of dust a day on the way to school,” he says. Stand for a moment and see that the color of the clothes worn by the children is unrecognizable from the dust. It’s not just about the streets, it’s a serious threat to children’s health and their future. Who will take responsibility for their deteriorating health?”

According to him, due to the dust, the students are continuously coughing, itchy eyes and breathing problems.TAG_OPEN_div_53 This dilapidated condition of the Siddhicharan Highway has not only caused serious problems to the present but also to the future generation.

It has been five years since the Mirchaiya-Katari-Ghurmi Road Project Office was established for the upgradation of this road.TAG_OPEN_div_51 According to Engineer Birendra Prasad Mahato, information officer at the office, the 26-km road from Mirchaiya to Katari is in the phase of being upgraded.

Despite the allocation of Rs 1.TAG_OPEN_div_49 03 billion in the current fiscal year 2082/83, the contracting process has not moved ahead due to various agitations and procedural issues like environmental impact assessment. There is a fear that this year’s budget will be frozen in the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 10 billion. “The multi-year file has been forwarded as per the 2082 standard, but the tender process is in confusion as the source is not assured,” Mahato said.

There is no place left for the locals to beg for the upgradation of the road. From the local level to the representatives of the provincial and federal parliaments, from the rooms of the ministries to the vehicular blockade on the roads, they have taken all measures. “Some of the shoes got torn while going to the ministry with the assurance files, but the condition of the road has not changed. Now there is no place to complain,” said the locals.

Now there is an election festival again. Udayapur Constituency 2 may get a new representative after March 4, but will the dilapidated road get a new look? Or will the same road again become a ‘vote seeking issue’ and a ‘political slogan’ in the next election? The citizens, who are not familiar with the dust, are now saying, “We need a blacktopped road, not just a leader who can give assurances.” ”