Beni to Ghansa section of the Beni-Jomsom road is in a very poor condition. The 76-kilometer road connects Mustang district via northern belt of Myagdi.
Travel along this section of the Beni-Jomsom Highway has become treacherous due to the very bad road condition, said Thakur Prasad Baruwal, a local of Ghar, Annapurna rural municipality.
He said the road is in such worse condition that it takes more than one and half hours to traverse the 25-kilometer section by vehicle. Now it takes 33 hours by bus to reach Jomsom from Beni. Normally it was five hours' travel.
The tourists coming for a visit to Mustang have been greatly troubled by this problem. The passengers have to push the buses stuck in mud, it is said.
Locals have complained that this section of the road has turned into a muddy swamp as the contractor company undertaking the expansion of the Beni-Jomsom-Korala road has started the road widening works after the onset of the monsoon.
The Sharma United JV, the construction company which has got the contract for road expansion from Galeshwar to Narchyang Bridge has completed only 15 per cent of the works.
Locals call for opening the Gurja mountain for climbing
Meanwhile, the locals of Gurja, Dhawalagiri rural municipality have urged the government to open the Gurja mountain for climbing.
A meeting of the Dhawalagiri rural municipality, Ward No 1 demanded with the federal government to open the Gurja, Churen, the Gurja West, Myagdimatha and Putha mountains for climbing purpose.
Ward chairperson Jhaka Bahadur Chhantyal said that the government closed these mountains for climbing 23 years back.
According to him, foreign mountaineers used to come here for climbing these mountains. He said the Ward government would approach the province government and the federal government for opening these mountains for climbing, so as to boost mountain tourism in the area.
The Gurja West is 7,197 meters tall, the Churen is 7,375 meters tall and the Putha is 7,271 meters tall.
