UDAYAPUR, Aug 12: Incessant rain since the last two days have brought vehicular movement in the district headquarters to a complete halt. Rain has damaged many sections of the Gaighat-Lahan road. However the transport has been completely grounded because of increase in water level in the Farset River that intersects the road in Triyuga Municipality-4.
Construction of a concrete bridge over the river was started six years ago. However, it has not been completed yet. Since the last three years, locals had been drawing attention of the government over the issue, but so far none of the authorities concerned have taken measures to complete it. Locals say that the highway would not have been obstructed if the bridge was completed on time.
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“The road becomes useless as soon as the water level rises in river, let alone torrential rain like we have been receiving since the past few days,” said Baburan Chhetri, a local bus driver. “As of now, we are totally stuck. If we try to go through the lower road, it has been flooded. And if we try it through the upper one, it's totally muddy,” he added.
Chhetri was referring to two main roads in the district that pass through Ghaighat-Chuhade. Both roads are dilapidated and even in dry season it takes between two to three hours to cross a nine-kilometer section of the roads, he said.
“The road is so much dilapidated that we have to drive nine hours to cross just nine kilometers in dry season. But during the rainy season, we become completely helpless,” he stated.
Locals lament that the Lahan-Gaighat road is for namesake. Every monsoon, it gets damaged further but is never repaired.
According to a school student Tara Acharya of Gaighat, monsoon disrupts classes every year. “We cannot go to school due to bad roads. Flood and landslides are also casual during monsoon,” she said.
Schools and other institutions of Gaighat, Bagaha, Jaljale, Deuri, Damauti and Chuhade, among other areas have been shut due to rain and floods.
