Residents have launched protests demanding the immediate construction of a stalled bridge over the Sahaja River in Aurahi Rural Municipality–4 of Siraha district, along the Hulaki Highway.
Citing repeated accidents and loss of life due to the absence of a bridge, protesters blocked the Hulaki Highway on Monday morning, demonstrating in front of the unfinished structure.
During the protest, residents chanted slogans against the police, local administration and the construction contractor.
According to Dipendra Yadav, a resident who participated in the demonstration, accidents occur almost daily because the bridge remains incomplete, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians.
Another resident, Laxmi Prasad Yadav, said that during the monsoon season, flooding makes the river impassable, completely halting movement and causing severe hardship for daily commuters.
Amit Kumar Yadav, also known as Bantha, said that despite nearly four years having passed since construction began, the bridge remains unfinished, blaming both the government and the contractor for negligence.
No progress at all
Shivji Yadav, chairperson of Aurahi Rural Municipality, said the absence of the bridge has severely disrupted travel for residents of Aurahi, Bariyarpatti, Navarajpur, Arnama and Siraha Municipality. He said repeated discussions with the contractor had failed to move the project forward.
The bridge and culvert construction contract was awarded on January 29, 2023, at a cost of approximately 115.4 million Nepalese rupees, to Sugam Nirman Sewa Pvt. Ltd., based in Mahendranagar, Dhanusha district. Although the original deadline expired and was later extended once, the project has yet to be completed.
Despite receiving payments totalling about 44.8 million rupees, the construction company has completed only 39 per cent of the work. Construction of a box culvert in the riverbed has not begun at all.
Contractor unreachable
According to Krishna Kumar Mahato, planning chief at the Hulaki Road Directorate Project Office in Janakpur, the contractor is currently unreachable. He said authorities are preparing to terminate the contract if the company fails to resume work within a week.
Of the five Hulaki Road projects in Siraha district, only the Lagadigadhiyani road section has progressed so far. The start dates for the remaining projects remain uncertain.
