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SAPTARI: Chinese apples are being smuggled into India, via Bihar’s Kunauli bazaar located on Indo-Nepal border, appar­ently in collusion with the police and customs officers. The smuggling came to light after the Saptari District Police Office in eastern Nepal mount­ed a raid on the house of one Binod Raya, where the apples were being stored. The police team led by Inspector Heman­ta Bhandari seized 78 cartoons of apples and a bicycle used for smuggling.

The police admit that such smuggling of apples has been taking place for a long time. They said they learnt about Raya’s house after they caught four people red-hand­ed in no-man’s land as they were trying to smuggle apples. Those arrested have admitted to receiving Rs 20 for each cartoon smuggled across the border.

The law prohibits the export of Chinese apples via Nepal. According to the police, a criminal group of Indian nationals purchase apples in Nepal during the day, store them in border areas and smuggle them using bicycles in the thick of night.

By MANOHAR POKHAREL

The construction of the Bheri Bridge con­necting Chaurjahari of West Rukum and Kudu of Jajarkot has been stuck in limbo. The 150m-long bridge is part of the Mid-hill highway, also called the Pushpalal highway.Although construction began five years ago, even foundational work on the bridge remains incomplete. The Department of Roads (DoR) has attributed the delay to the tardiness and negligence on the part of YP Construction Kath­mandu, the company that has the Rs 150 million contract for the bridge. The company, on the other hand, blames the delay on a “flawed design estimate”.

Bishal Sharma, head of Chaurjahari municipality, says construction was affect­ed because the road section linking Chaurja­hari and Sallibazar is treacherous. He adds that despite repeated requests for speedy construction of the bridge, work has dragged on due to the construction company’s refusal to cooperate.

“The work that was supposed to be complet­ed in three years has dragged on for five years. The local government will take action against the construction company if it does not resume work in this fiscal year,” he said.

However, Raju Shrestha, proprietor of the construction company, offers a counter-nar­rative. He argues that the DoR’s plan had to be redesigned two years into construction. He puts the blame for the delay squarely on the DoR, which he alleges of making a perfunctory design without visiting the site. This, he says, made a second design necessary. But Shrestha is confident construction will be completed in next two years as a new design had already been drawn up.

The delay in building the bridge has adversely affected the construction of the Jajarkot section of the highway, depriving people of Jajarkot and Rukum of a motor road. This means they will continue to have to rely on a suspension bridge for mobility. The delay has also obstruct­ed work on the highway’s upgrade as well as town-planning at Chaurjahari.

 By Rajendra Karki | Jajarkot

Bhaktapur: The Suryabinay­ak-Dhulikhel road is going to be upgraded to eight lanes. Concerned authorities have stressed the need for start­ing the construction work at the earliest. They expressed their views at a ‘suggestion-col­lection campaign’ organized last week at Jagati, Bhaktapur by the Department of Roads (DoR).

On the occasion, former minister and parliamentary member Mahesh Basnet said that the road expansion will alleviate traffic congestions. He also talked about the need to install traffic lights, con­struct overhead bridges and manage sidewalks.

Sanjaya Kumar Shrestha, chief of DoR’s Foreign Aid Division, said that the Japa­nese government, which will provide financial support to the project, was carrying out a preliminary study of the proj­ect. Following a preliminary study, it had pledged to sign a loan agreement during a recent visit of DoR representa­tives to Japan.

“The Japanese government will provide a loan for the proj­ect at an interest rate of 0.2 percent,” he said.

“Part of the project is a plan to construct a four-lane tunnel road at Palanse and to upgrade the road to eight lanes from Palanse to Sanga Bhangjyan,” he said.

“Fuel tankers will not be allowed on the tunnel road. A study is also being conducted to build a tunnel road along the Suryabinayak-Koteshwar road,” he added.

Other participants like Mayor of Suryabinayak Municipality, Basu Dev Thapa, a local representative from the municipality, Ukesh Kawa, and district president of the Federation of Nepali Jour­nalists, Pushkar Raj Budha­thoki, also spoke about the importance of starting the project soon. RSS