Guardians lament that they can’t send their children to school because they need manpower to make a living for the family.

Remote villages in Kalikot district in western Nepal have been connected with the Karnali Corridor and the national highway network following the completion of the Sannigad-Sipkhana road.

Last Friday, Hari Bansha Acharya travelled to Kalikot to open a branch office of Sanima Bank in the district headquarters Manma by driving over Karnali Highway.

Dhan Bahadur Batala from Malkot-6, Kalikot, built a seven-storey building, the tallest in Manma Bazaar, with an investment of Rs20 million after the region was connected with the Karnali road corridor. “I could have built a house in Kathmandu with the investment,” Batala said. “But I decided to invest in my homeland considering the development the road brings to the area.”

More than 150 people have fallen sick in an influenza outbreak in Mehelmudi and Khardu of Ramnakot VDC in Kalikot district.