A bus park built six years ago in Khalanga, the district headquarters of Jumla, has yet to come into operation due to a longstanding dispute over the access road. As a result, vehicles park haphazardly along the main market road, posing safety risks to pedestrians and commuters.

The bus park lies on the banks of the Tila river, adjacent to the district headquarters. The municipality spent Rs16 million on constructing the main building, drainage and basic facilities including a waiting hall, parking, ticket counters, toilets and water and lighting systems. But the facilities are left unused as the access road to the buspark is still incomplete over land disputes.

Harish Rokaya, a resident of ward 6 in Chandannath Municipality, said the lack of a functional bus park has turned the Khalanga bazar area into a perilous traffic corridor. “Children walking to school and passengers going to the market have to squeeze past randomly parked vehicles. Neither the local administration nor the municipality seems concerned,” said Rokaya, adding that unmanaged roadside parking had increased the chances of road accidents.

The structures in the newly constructed buspark have never been put to use. The zinc-sheet roofing has begun to rust and leak, while cracks are visible on the walls. According to municipal records, the access road could not be completed because the local government failed to secure land from seven families whose plots lie along the planned alignment.

Jumla, which has the highest traffic pressure in Karnali Province after provincial headquarters Birendranagar, sees hundreds of jeeps, buses and freight trucks pass through the district headquarters daily. Without a designated terminal, transport companies have set up ticket counters in cramped corners of the bazar, further congesting the already narrow streets.

Rajusingh Kathayat, mayor of Chandannath Municipal, said the local government drafted operational guidelines and attempted several rounds of negotiations, but the process stalled over compensation. “The landowners along the road are unwilling to provide land for free. And the municipality does not have funds to pay compensation. We ended up building a bus park without first clearing the road, and now we are stuck,” said Kathayat. He admitted that delays had created “a situation where we can neither use the infrastructure nor abandon it.”

Landowners, however, have different views. Landowner Min Bahadur Thapa accused the municipality of neglect. “We only asked the municipality to use the land fairly,” he said. “But the authorities never followed up. If they had taken this seriously earlier, the bus park would have been operating by now.”

The absence of a regulated terminal has allowed transport operators to act with impunity—charging arbitrary fares, loading more passengers than permitted and operating without monitoring.

Padam Mahat, another resident of Khalanga, said the situation was becoming unbearable. “The roads and market are already too narrow. When buses, jeeps and autos all park on the roadside, walking becomes risky,” he said. “People need safe travel. The authorities must ensure vehicles depart from the bus park, not from the middle of the bazaar.”