Locals across Gokarna-Sundarijal road section in Kathmandu disrupted the road for three hours from 8 am to 11 today, demanding with the authority concerned to upgrade the road. The locals say that the road section was mired by the big good-ferrying trucks belonging to the Melamchi Drinking Water Project. Add to that, the lackadaisical attitude of the Project towards the issue aggravated the roads poor condition, leading to today's disruption, shared the locals. Due to today's traffic disruption, officer-bearers and students were hit hard. "In lack of upgradation of the road, the locals and passerby have had to suffer mud muddle during the rain while dust in the sunny days," shared Shree Krishna Jyoti, one of the locals and member of a Municipal political mechanism. "Not only that, due to the bad condition of road, the risk of road accidents have also increased significantly," added Jyoti. The three-hour strike was initiated by a local club, Five Star Club and supported by the locals. The Club, so as to pile pressure to the concerned authority, will continue disrupting road for four hours tomorrow, informed Kiran KC, Chairperson of the Club. Such symbolic strike will continue for uncertain time until the road is upgraded, KC mentioned. Locals commented that although they repeatedly drew the attention of the Department of Road (DoR) towards the issue but it assigned Melamchi Project to take appropriate action whereas the Project was taking forever to do the needful. Refuting the allegation of the indifference, Ghanashyam Bhattarai, Executive Director of Melamchi Drinking Water Development Committee, explained that the Committee would have already upgraded the road but since DoR introduced the expansion of the road from the existing 8 meters to 22, that caused delay. "But now the Committee is all set to swing into the needful action as soon as the DoR completes the expansion," reaffirmed Bhattarai. RSS