Roads, development and destruction

The movie ‘Gaun Ayeko Bato’ brought back a flurry of past memories. I remembered the song “Gaun Gaun Bata Utha, Basti Basti Bata Utha…” a revolutionary song sung by Jhapalis during the 1970s when they were fighting against the monarchy. Today we are done with monarchy but our Gaun (villages) are getting empty with no one to sing the song “Gaun Gaun Bata Utha…”!

The movie also reminded me of ‘Shahid Marg (91 km)’, which was built by the Maoists during the People’s War (PW)when I was working there. When I became Minister for Physical Planning and Works (2007) after the PW, I allotted a budget for that road. In the movie, I had seen how building a motorable road had affected the Rai culture and economy adversely. I worry if the Shahid Marg (metaled now) has adversely affected the Magars’ way of life?

Being a Janjati architect, I am aware how careless development can jeopardize indigenous way of life affecting their ‘Gaas Bas Kapas’. I am not against development but it should be inclusive development. 

During PW, some efforts to integrate development with indigenous ways of life were practiced in Thawang village. Magars in Rolpa eat pork heavily, salad was introduced to digest and prevent constipation. Within their homes, they used to raise pigs by feeding human feces directly. The Maoists made the villagers separate pig breeding from their homes. Earlier, the villagers used to sell hemp, the Maoists helped them make rucksacks, which was much in demand during PW.

In the movie, one can see the local brewery being replaced by ‘coca cola culture’, the indigenous rooftop by synthetic building material and indigenous underwear being replaced by flashy synthetic lingerie.

I had seen how the Karnali region was left out of development during the monarchy era. On the positive side of development, I am also aware how that region, after the country became a republic and federal, is now flourishing as a separate province, getting basic amenities such as hospitals, university and road networks. It is also welcoming to see Marshi rice, Kodo (millet), honey and Sishnu from Karnali finding a market in Kathmandu’s malls. Seeing how fast indigenous ‘Gaas Bas Kapas’ was being replaced by consumerism, I am quite worried. What will happen to Karnali if the government does not protect their products?

Coincidentally, 2/3 days after seeing the movie, I got to see a photo exhibition by Rastriya Samachar Samiti on the occasion of the Republic Day displaying major infrastructure development works throughout the country. The first thing that struck me was the economic viability of these projects, secondly the participation and ownership of the projects by the local people and thirdly, whether these works will benefit the local people. If these factors were not considered while undertaking these works, I fear Indian goods will flood our villages. Remember, we share almost two-third of our border with India, a market that is nearly 80 times bigger than Nepal.

The photo exhibition reminded me of my 30-day trip from Chiwa Bhanjyang (Ilam district) adjoining Sikkim, India to Jhulaghat, Baitadi district bordering Uttaranchal, India from Jan 29 to Feb 27 in 2019, covering 28 districts along the Pushpalal Marg, a mid-hill highway. The salient feature of this road was that it covered all the Janjati and Khas communities of the country. 

The road is so strategic that, had the government given it first priority before the construction of Mahendra Rajmarg, migration from hills to Tarai would have been checked. After seeing the movie, I became acutely curious during my recent 10 day trip from Ilam to Kanchanpur (27 June-7 July 2024), covering 18 districts.

While traveling I saw almost no economic activities throughout the highway except seeing children waiting for their school buses to reach private schools in the mornings and evenings. It reminded me how remittance has accelerated the flow of population from villages to small towns, cities near highways. How have private English boarding schools flourished in these cities? I remembered in the movie, ‘Papa’ being called again and again by the little son and how proud the father felt hearing English words from his son!

Lastly, I must say, I was lucky to come back safely to Kathmandu, after 10 days of harrowing trip. I saw trails of destruction of roads, houses and paddy fields due to flooding and landslides killing people, animals and destroying goods while returning. At one point, we got stuck in the middle of the road when we found a huge landslide blocking the road ahead and flooding the road behind us. We had to backtrack on the road after the rain stopped. Once again I was reminded how in Thawang reforestation was taken up and check dams were built to save the village from surrounding rivers during PW.

Unfortunately, the same Maoist force, which has been in the government for the last nine years, has hardly been effective in implementing sustainable development works, instead they have been busy running after power. 

The author is a politician and architect. Views are personal