The troubled tale of Jabdighat bridge
A bridge project in Bardiya district that began with much fanfare and lofty ambitions has devolved into a protracted tale of unrealized promises, tales of corruption and legal entanglements. The construction of Jabdighat bridge spanning the Babai river was initiated in 2011 to forge a vital link between Bardiya’s northern realms, including the town of Barbardiya, and the district headquarters, Gualriya. The 400-meter structure was slated for completion within three years. However, bureaucratic roadblocks and logistical hitches elongated the timeline by an additional two years, foreshadowing the tumultuous path that lay ahead.
Dismay turned into despair when, shortly before its anticipated inauguration, the Rs 190m bridge buckled and crumbled. Local residents, whose hopes had been kindled by the promise of enhanced connectivity with the bridge completion, were devastated.
Fingers were pointed squarely at the contractor, design consultant, and the Road Division Office, all implicated in what can only be described as a fiasco of monumental proportions.
Leapfrogging through 12 years, the denizens of Barbardiya and its vicinity continue to traverse the Babai’s waters through boats and ephemeral wooden crossings. Their dream of cruising to Gulariya in vehicular comfort remains suspended, forever unmaterialized. The forsaken edifice of the Jabdighat bridge, a stark monument to both graft and ineptitude, underscores the blight infesting Nepal’s construction sector.
Nearly seven years following the bridge’s collapse, a glimmer of accountability emerged. On May 8, 2022, the Special Court issued a verdict ordering the contractor, Pappu Construction Pvt Ltd, to pay a fine of Rs 37.2m. Simultaneously, Bhanu Joshi, Manoj Shrestha, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Navaraj KC, Hari Bahadur Khadka, and Karma Tenzin Tamang from the Nepalgunj-based Road Division Office were found culpable for diverging from approved plans, designs, and specifications. Their sentences ranged from six to eight months, accompanied by fines ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000.
Yet, justice’s path remains labyrinthine. The defendants contested the Special Court’s ruling at the Supreme Court. The verdict remains a distant horizon.
The saga took an interesting turn when Sanjay Gautam, federal parliament member from Bardiya, embarked on a hunger strike beneath the remains of the Jabdighat bridge on May 13 of this year. His demand: the immediate resurrection of the collapsed structure. Succumbing to public pressure, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala visited Gautam and pledged in writing to initiate a tender process for the bridge reconstruction within a week.
However, even this pledge struggled to evade bureaucratic entanglements, resulting in further stasis. As three months have quietly slipped by, Minister Jwala’s promise has languished unfulfilled. “Even the solemn commitment of a government minister is not implemented,” bemoans Gautam, who now plans to take up the matter directly to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Janak Dhami, the information officer at the Road Division Office, Nepalgunj, underscores the delays that have plagued the bridge’s resurrection. The crux of the issue: the Ministry of Finance’s failure to greenlight the necessary budgetary allocations.
The tale of the Jabdighat bridge underscores not only the intricacies of infrastructure development but also the necessity for effective governance, unswerving execution, and vigilant oversight.
Niraj Shakya, chief of the Road Division Office, Nepalgunj, confesses that until the court proceedings conclude, the bridge’s repair remains a distant prospect.
“We are now planning to initiate a new bridge project at Jabdighat itself. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 950m.”
The lesson here is unambiguous: the Jabdighat Bridge shows the broader interplay between aspiration and reality in infrastructure. It demands a fusion of dedication, sagacity and watchfulness to bridge the gap between intent and achievement.
Three killed, eight injured as landslide buries Scorpio jeep in Palpa
Three persons died and eight others were injured when a landslide buried a Scorpio jeep at Jorte in Palpa on Wednesday.
The identities of the deceased are yet to be established.
SP Heramba Sharma, Chief at the District Police Office, Palpa, said that the trio died on the spot when the landslide buried the jeep (Lu 1 Ja 4600) at Jorte in Palpa this morning.
The jeep was heading towards Butwal from Tamghas when the incident occurred at around 8 am.
Information Officer at the District Police Office, Palpa said that the injured have been taken to the Mission Hospital for treatment.
Preliminary study begins on Panama disease in banana
A preliminary study has begun on the Panama (TR-4) disease detected in banana production in Tikapur, Kailali.
The Panama infection has been detected while carrying out a sample test on bananas by the Nepal Agriculture Research Council (NARC).
The Risk Analysis Task Force formed by the National Plant Conservation Organization Nepal has started field study to spell out the causes behind the destructive infectious disease.
A seven-member task force headed by scientist of National Plant Pathology Research Centre, Dr Ram Bahadur Khadka has reached Tikapur to initiate the study.
The taskforce has started discussion with the chiefs of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini Provinces offices working in the area of agriculture as well as local farmers.
On the occasion, Dr Khadka urged the farmers to adopt precaution without being discouraged.
Farmers should be cautious in preventing the outbreak of the infection of Panama disease to other farmland, he said.
"The results of the sample test are alarming. Panama infection has been pervasive in 60-65 percent of plants", Khadka said, adding, "It is wise to ruin the infected plants while precautionary measures should be placed to stop the outbreak".
The taskforce has recommended farmers to set up quarantines in each banana farm to check the outbreak of soil-transferred infection from one to another area.
The taskforce has also suggested the farmers send a sample of banana to the lab of Tikapur-based Sudurpaschim University Agriculture Campus after the Panama disease infection surfaced in banana farming.
Is Nepal becoming the epicenter of pollution in South Asia ?
As global pollution edged upward in 2021, so did its burden on human health, according to new data from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). If the world were to permanently reduce fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline, the average person would add 2.3 years onto their life expectancy—or a combined 17.8bn life-years saved worldwide.
This data makes clear that particulate pollution remains the world’s greatest external risk to human health, with the impact on life expectancy comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, and more than five times that of transport injuries like car crashes, says the report.
Yet, the pollution challenge worldwide is vastly unequal. “Three-quarters of air pollution’s impact on global life expectancy occurs in just six countries, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Indonesia, where people lose one to more than six years off their lives because of the air they breathe,” says Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and creator of the AQLI along with colleagues at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
“For the last five years, the AQLI’s local information on air quality and its health consequences has generated substantial media and political coverage, but there is an opportunity to complement this annual information with more frequent—for example, daily—and locally generated data.”
Indeed, many polluted countries lack basic air pollution infrastructure. Asia and Africa are the two most poignant examples. They contribute 92.7 percent of life years lost due to pollution. Yet, just 6.8 and 3.7 percent of governments in Asia and Africa, respectively, provide their citizens with fully open air quality data. Further, just 35.6 and 4.9 percent of countries in Asia and Africa, respectively, have air quality standards—the most basic building block for policies.
The collective current investments in global air quality infrastructure also do not match where air pollution is having its greatest toll on human life. While there is a large global fund for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that annually disburses $4bn toward the issues, there is no equivalent set of coordinated resources for air pollution.
In fact, the entire continent of Africa receives under $300,000 in philanthropic funds toward air pollution (i.e. the current average price of a single-family home in the United States). Just $1.4m goes to Asia, outside of China and India. Europe, the United States, and Canada, meanwhile, receive $34m, according to the Clean Air Fund.
“Timely, reliable, open air quality data in particular can be the backbone of civil society and government clean air efforts—providing the information that people and governments lack and that allows for more informed policy decisions,” says Christa Hasenkopf, the director of AQLI and air quality programs at EPIC. “Fortunately, we see an immense opportunity to play a role in reversing this by better targeting—and increasing—our funding dollars to collaboratively build the infrastructure that is missing today.”
Read the Full Report
South Asia
In no other location on the planet is the deadly impact of pollution more visible than in South Asia, home to the four most polluted countries in the world and nearly a quarter of the global population. In Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the AQLI data reveal that residents are expected to lose about five years off their lives on average if the current high levels of pollution persist, and more in the most polluted regions—accounting for more than half of the total life years lost globally due to pollution.
Nepal
The study has shown that Nepal is the world’s third most polluted country based on satellite-derived PM2.5 data. Fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) shortens the average Nepali resident’s life expectancy by 4.6 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 µg/m3 was met. Some areas of Nepal fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by 6.8 years in the nine districts with the highest concentration of particulate pollution, according to the study. These districts lie in southern Nepal and share their borders with the highly-polluted Northern Plains of India, the study says.
Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden
Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden yet have some of the weakest infrastructure to deliver citizens timely, accurate data. They also receive tiny slices of an already small global philanthropic pie. For example, the entire continent of Africa receives less than $300,000 to tackle air pollution.
“There is a profound disconnect with where air pollution is the worst and where we, collectively and globally, are deploying resources to fix the problem,” Christa Hasenkopf, director of air quality programs at EPIC.
While there is an international financing partnership called the Global Fund that disburses $4bn annually on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, there is no equivalent for air pollution.
“Yet, air pollution shaves off more years from the average person’s life in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Cameroon than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other health threats,” the report said.
Bangladesh tops ranking
Globally, South Asia is the worst impacted region. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are in order the top four most polluted countries in terms of annualized, population-weighted averages of fine particulate matter, which are detected by satellites and defined as particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5).
Air pollution concentrations are then fed into the AQLI metric which calculates their impact on life expectancy, based on peer-reviewed methods. Residents of Bangladesh, where average PM2.5 levels were 74 micrograms per cubic meter, would gain 6.8 years of life if this were brought to WHO guidelines of five micrograms per cubic meter. India’s capital Delhi meanwhile is the “most polluted megacity in the world” with annual average particulate pollution of 126.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
With inputs from AFP
“Timely, reliable, open air quality data in particular can be the backbone of civil society and government clean air efforts—providing the information that people and governments lack and that allows for more informed policy decisions,” says Christa Hasenkopf, the director of AQLI and air quality programs at EPIC
