Enraged locals resort to streets demanding Bouddha-Jorpati road blacktopped at earliest

KATHMANDU, May 9: Enraged locals of Bouddha and Jorpati area hit the streets on Thursday complaining delay in the blacktopping of the under-construction road.

The local residents and Bouddha Trade Association obstructed the Chabahil-Sankhu road section since 8:00 am in the morning as a symbolic protest demanding the road be blacktopped immediately to get rid of the dusty and muddy road. The locals also shut down shops in the area for a few hours.

The area was pushed into chaos as a clash erupted after the police attempted to disperse the protesters.

Expansion of the 11.46-kilometer road section began in October 2015 to lay pipelines for Melamchi Water Supply Project. But the contractors have not blacktopped the road since then under various pretext. Almost four years later, the road still remains incomplete.

“Hundreds of traders have been displaced while investment worth missions have been jeopardized as a result of the dilapidated condition of the road since the past four years,” local traders and Bouddha Trade Association chair Dipak Chaulagain said.

“We will be forced to resort to severe forms of protest if our demands are not addressed soon,” said another trader Laxman Dulal.

Meanwhile, chief of the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, Uttam Raj Subedi, says the tension in the area has already ended now.