Following a field report prepared by a team deployed by the PMO last Friday, the PMO drew the attention of three ministers--Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, Bhim Rawal and Mohambmad Aftab Alam-- regarding restoration of the devastated road section. [break]
Some 18 km of the highway was destroyed by the unregulated number of trucks and tippers carrying wet sand far above their capacity, in violation of traffic regulations.
The field team under the supervision of PMO Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal concluded that PMO´s six-month-old instructions given to the Ministries -- Physical Planning and Works, Labor and Transportation, and Home Affairs -- to restore the damaged road went largely unheeded.
Installation of a load-weighing machine along the Belkhu-Naubise section within two months, controlling the loading of wet sand at the quarries directly onto the trucks and completion of repairs along Prithvi Highway by November 26 were included in an action plan that the PMO had directed the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works to implement.
Prithivi highway is a gateway to the capital.
The PMO also attached the field report in letters sent to the ministers.
“We have asked the ministers concerned to take necessary steps to maintain the damaged road, curb the overloading of trucks and set up weighing machines at the various entry points along the highway,” informed Secretary Paudyal, adding, “A carbon copy of the letters sent to the ministers was also forwarded to the prime minister.”
Secretary Paudyal, while returning to the capital from his ancestral home in Gulmi district last Dashain, saw the utterly horrible condition of the road and issued stern instructions to the ministries concerned to immediately repair it and control the overloaded trucks.
However, the report shows that only a few kilometers of the damaged road has been maintained on a temporary basis. The Department of Roads, Department of Road Management and police personnel failed to install weighing machines along the highway to check the load quantity of trucks as per the PMO´s instruction.
The inspection team last Friday took action against 25 trucks carrying in excess of capacity.
The team concluded that no effective monitoring was carried out by the three ministries and the police offices concerned. “The report has also suggested the Ministry of Home Affairs effectively mobilize highway police patrols,” said Paudyal, adding, “The reckless operation of trucks overloaded with wet sand would be controlled if the highway police seriously monitored the trucks from the place where they load wet sand.”
The team found that most overloaded trucks failed to carry blue books. “Police have been fining trucks up to Rs 200 for carrying loads in excess of capacity,” reads the report, adding, “There is need for a legal provision to fine overloaded trucks according to the extra load they carry.”
The team concluded that the damaged road has been patched up superficially but there has been no proper maintenance for the last five years due to budget constraints.
According to technicians, the restoration work will require at least Rs 30 million per km.
Six months ago, the PMO had directed the authorities to strictly restrict trucks carrying loads in excess of the limit and to permit them to enter the capital only with load clearance documents proving they are carrying loads -- mainly sand, aggregate, rods and cement -- within the prescribed limit.
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