Locals are compelled to take risk with their lives while crossing the Tangting river at Khudunabari in Jhapa.

They are using a wooden bridge built on the incomplete section of the bridge to get across the river. “People are risking their lives and limbs to cross the river,” said Yogendra Acharya, the

CPN-UML chairman in Khudunabari. The temporary bridge cost around Rs 200, 000 to build.

A joint venture between Hingdung Thokar and Saroj Construction Services was awarded the contract to build the bridge in 2008 by the Eastern Regional Road Division Office, Damak. The 126-metre bridge connecting Khudunabari with southern Ilam was estimated to cost Rs 10. 71 million at the time, but the contractors abandoned the project after completing only 98 metres.

UML lawmaker Prem

Giri said the bridge has

been left unattended ever since. “Locals are facing difficulties, especially during monsoon,” he said, adding that many people had been swept away while crossing the river in the past.

Local Khagendra Lingden of Khudunabari blames negligence on part of the Department of Roads and contractors. The vehicles cannot move across the bridge.

Ramhari Pokharel, chief of the Eastern Regional Road Division Office, claimed they had forwarded the file to the department for additional budget to complete the bridge. “We will complete the work once we are allocated the additional budget,” he said, adding that only half of the work had been completed due to overheads owing to the floods in the river.