Four major road sections in Baglung, a hill district of Gandaki Province, have been disrupted since the start of monsoon this year.

The Kaligandaki corridor, Maldhunga-Kushmisera road, Jaimini-Bareng road and Kathekhola-Lekhani-Galkot road stretches have all been closed over the past two months due to floods and landslides. The locals vented ire stating that the authorities concerned have not taken any initiative to reopen the blocked roads.

The farmers are hardest hit due to the prolonged road obstruction as they are unable to transport seasonal vegetables, milk and other products to the market. Meanwhile, residents in rural areas are forced to buy essential commodities at higher prices.

“A milk van used to collect milk from the local farmers in Kushmisera. Jaimini-Bareng road has been blocked for more than two months. The farmers have no alternative to carry milk to Kushma, the district headquarters of neighbouring Parbat, walking around three hours,” said Mukti Acharya, a milk farmer from Kushmisera. According to him, the farmers from Jaimini, who usually sell around 500-600 litres of milk daily, have had to send milk towards Parbat while some have been wasted at home.

The vegetable farmers face a similar ordeal. Lal Maya Pun, a farmer from Lekhani of Kathekhola Rural Municipality, produces both seasonal and off seasonal vegetables. “Vegetables are getting rotten in the fields due to the lack of market access,” she said.

The landslides and floods damaged the Kaligandaki corridor in various places. The transportation has been blocked since June 28. The road was reopened on July 15 but the road was swept away again. No efforts have been taken since then to resume transportation.

Transportation toward Gulmi from Baglung Bazaar through Balewa, Jaimini and Bareng came to a halt due to the blockage of the Kaligandaki corridor.

Similarly, the blocked Maldhunga-Kushmisera road is yet to be reopened. A massive landslide blocked the road stretch at Eklesal area of Baglung Municipality two months ago. “The landslide starts when it rains,” said Raju Khadka, the deputy mayor of Baglung Municipality. “We attempted to control the landslide several times but to no avail. The local people have been hugely affected due to road closure.”

Khadka said the municipality spent Rs5 million in the last fiscal year to control the landslide at Eklesal but it did not work.

The landslide erupted at Eklesal four years ago and swept away land of around one-and-a-half kilometres in length and around 500 metres in breadth. Dablyang village at Baglung-10 is now at risk of the landslide. According to Surendra Gautam, engineer at the Kaligandaki corridor road project, they could not initiate work to control the Eklesal landslide as it needs a huge amount of budget.

Likewise, the transportation along the Kushmisera-Bareng road has been totally closed for the past two months due to lack of a bridge over the Theulekhola stream. The bridge is under construction and transportation is not possible when the stream gets flooded in the monsoon season.

“I came to Baglung [the district headquarters] through Kushma of Parbat district,” said Nara Bahadur Pun, mayor of Jaimini Municipality. “It takes nearly one day for the people living in the southern part of Baglung to come to the district headquarters due to road disruption.”

Two big landslides blocked the Kathekhola-Lekhani-Galkot road, affecting hundreds of people of wards 6, 8 and other neighbouring settlements of Kathekhola Rural Municipality. “I have to go to Bihun, the administrative centre of Kathekhola Rural Municipality, quite regularly and I have to walk for two hours to reach there due to transportation disruption,” said Paramananda Kandel, ward chairman of Kathekhola-8. “The authorities appear indifferent towards the hardships of the local people.”