Nine months ago, a rain-swollen Roshi swept away a 12-km Nepalthok-Chaukidanda section of the BP highway, a lifeline linking districts in eastern Tarai with midhill districts.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster that rendered hundreds homeless, marooned thousands of travelers headed to the Kathmandu valley from the southern plains and vice-versa for days on end while three patients died in ambulances for want of treatment. Such was the situation that several people had to be rescued via air. 

Sadly, the government appears to have forgotten about the calamitous situation altogether. 

Completed with Japanese assistance amounting to Rs 20 billion (approx) about a decade ago after 20 years of struggle, this vital link was facilitating trade with both of Nepal’s neighbors and changing the economic fortunes of districts in east Tarai as well as midhill like Mahottari, Dhanusha, Kavre, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Okhaldhunga, Udayapur and Solukhumbu.

Bazaars and settlements located along the artery were doing brisk business by operating hotels, charging stations for electric vehicles, small industries that produced mouthwatering indigenous sweetmeats like khuwa and kurauni made using milk sourced from local farms, so on and so forth.

With the road still in bad shape, these businesses are bleeding dry, not to mention inconveniences facing lakhs of people traveling between the valley and the southern plains.

For repairing a vital lifeline that connects different parts of a country, bolsters national unity, gives a lease of life to subnational economies that contribute to the national economy big time, nine months is a pretty long time. But the government appears least bothered about repairing the artery and ensuring its full operation at the earliest. If that were not the case, it would have completed the works well before the monsoon. 

All that the government appears to have done with regard to the highway repair works during this period is build a diversion in its feeble bid to escape the wrath of a mighty Roshi and keep the movement of people and goods going, partially.

But the diversion becomes quite perilous whenever it rains. Still, a large number of people have no option except to tread the road that is quite prone to disasters like landslides and floods.

Aware of this situation, lawmakers representing Ramechhap and Sindhuli districts, among others, have drawn the attention of the government, particularly of the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, to little avail.

At the time of its construction, there were vociferous demands that the artery in question was too narrow and a wider road was necessary to connect the valley with eastern parts of the country and give the national economy a turnaround. Ironically, the government has not bothered to allocate even a penny for the repair and maintenance of this vital lifeline. 

A scarred highway reflects very poorly on the performance of a government that, critics say, has been long on rhetoric, short on action. Let the highway in bad shape be an eyeopener, prompting this administration with a comfortable majority in the parliament to perform like a well-oiled machine, on the highway and beyond.