Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed concerned government authorities to fix water-logging on the streets in the Kathmandu Valley with urgency. The prime minister summoned ministers, secretaries and heads of departments to his office and issued the instruction. “I want to see all potholes filled and the condition of roads improved within 15 days,” the prime minsiter’s Press Coordinator Govinda Pariyar quoted Deuba as telling officials.
The prime minister’s instruction comes after an 11-year schoolgirl Binita Phuyal drowned in a pit at Nepaltar on Friday afternoon. Another school girl Satya Sapkota had also fallen into a pit in Samakhushi, but was rescued by the locals. “The roads of Kathmandu look like ponds after heavy rain and schoolchildren are falling into them. It is embarrassing to see this state of the capital,” Pariyar quoted Deuba as telling officials.
Expressing serious concern about the issue, the prime minister directed concerned officials to personally visit the sites where roads have been dug up and do the needful. Deuba also assured the officials that the Cabinet would allocate additional budget for improving the condition of roads, if needed. PM also directed Nepal Telecom, Nepal Electricity Authority and Department of Roads to work in coordination with one another.