BANKE : The long-promised construction of Khadkabar-Ghiuyabari road, envisioned as a vital inter-provincial link connecting Salyan district with Chhapargaudi in Kohalpur municipality of Banke district, has remained confined to political manifestos for years, fueling frustration among the local voters.

Although political parties make the construction of the road a campaign promise in every election, much to the dismay of the local residents, the commitment remains far from fulfillment.

The road has been repeatedly made the popular slogan since the election of 2015 BS. The candidates running in the upcoming March 5 election to House of Representatives from various political parties have yet again placed this project among their priorities.

Surya Dhakal, a candidate of Banke constituency 1 representing CPN (UML), said that it is essential to construct this road to socially and economically empower the residents of ward no 12 and 13 of Kohalpur municipality and Kohalpur city.

He is confident that this road will be a milestone in improving the economic living standards of the people in Banke and Salyan districts.

“The road allows shorter and less expensive travel so it falls in our top priorities,” he shared. He viewed if the road becomes operational, agriculture produces from the hills could be transported to the Terai and goods from Banke could be conveniently delivered to Salyan and other areas.

Likewise, Narayan Gaudel, the Nepali Congress candidate from the same constituency, mentioned that he has been making efforts to build this road.

Stating that he has made this project a key election agenda, he reminded that his party had once organized a rally to pile a pressure on authority to allocate budget for the road.

According to him, this road is very short in terms of distance less than 20 km from Khadkabar to Ghuiyabari in Salyan.

He claimed that the road was originally envisioned by BP Koirala, the founding leader of the Nepali Congress.
The construction of this road features top election agenda of candidates from other political parties.

Narendra Pandey of Nepali Communist Party, Suresh Chaudhary of Rastriya Swatantra Party and Krishna KC of Pragatishil Lokatantrik Party have also made the construction of this road as a part of their election agenda.

The route passes through Chure hills, flatland, temples, monasteries and Banke National Park making it important from the tourism perspective.

Although discussions on construction of the road have been ongoing since long, it has yet to take a concrete shape, frowned Lal Bahadur Rana, a local leader from ward no 13 of Kohalpur municipality.

The voters and candidates hopeful alike in Banke constituency no 1 believe if the Kohalpur-Chappargaudi-Khadkabar-Ghuiyabari road is made, remote village such as Khadkabar in ward no 13 of Kohalpur municipality would finally be connected to the road network.