The Ghirling

Arrested Development of Nepal’s River Crossing Technology

AJAYA DIXIT AND MADHUKAR UPADHYA

HISTORY OF THE GHIRLING

This chapter reflects on the current status of the indigenous technology of the ghirling, its impact on people, its socio-economy, and the opportunities it has created for people living in villages separated by major rivers and their tributaries. Himalayan rivers are full of rapids that make them impossible to ford or punt across in dugout canoes even during non-monsoon months. To cross these rivers people once used simple rattan ropes. A ghirling uses this same technology but has improved upon it with the use of steel cables and pulleys.

This essay is based on a reconnaissance visit made to the Trisuli River in the section from Baireni, Dhading District to Mugling, Chitawan District, as well as on a review of literature, secondary materials and discussions with different development workers who have used ghirling in the course of their work. The stretch along the Trisuli River was chosen because it has experienced rapid changes over the last 30 years. The ghirling has been one factor behind this change. Hn turn, the ghirling itself has been affected by these developments and has undergone some modernisation.

A ghirling is a rope or cable hung across a fast-flowing river and used to cross it. This technique has been in use in many parts of Nepal for a long time and still continues to serve many villagers. Though a ghirling is risky and very uncomfortable to operate, in many villages, there is no alternative, especially during the monsoon. Although people often sustain injuries while using ghirling, the state has paid very little attention to improving this technology by making it more efficient and safer. Where donors have been involved, suspension foot-bridges have replaced ghirling but the ghirling itself has mostly remained in their blind spot. Today, swollen streams and rivers isolate many villages during the monsoon, and some rivers are impossible to ford even during the dry season. This brutal fact of life in the mountains has had significant consequences for modern development. Hronically policy studies on transport, not even the transport sector profile study, mention ghirling.1

Despite this formal neglect, ghirling are widely used in Nepal, a country where high mountain ridges and deep river valleys form an integral part of the landscape. Fast-flowing and unpredictable streams and rivers are impediments to the movement of goods and people. Crossing rivers has been a major challenge since early times, as much for rulers, who wished to maintain lines of communication and transport logistics for military and administrative purposes, as for villagers, who needed to communicate with kith and kin in widely scattered hamlets. Accounts of how people crossed riverbanks in the past are sketchy. According to Regmi (1988), the Gorkhali rulers of about 200 years ago had devised arrangements to maintain the main artery of the kingdom, the east-west track that connected Kathmandu with Dhankuta and Hlam in the east and Doti in the west.

These tracks, along which troops, military supplies and official mail (hulak) were moved, crossed all the major rivers and streams of the country. Climbing up and down the mountains over the spurs was much easier than making river crossings but, the Gorkhali rulers did introduce ferryboat services wherever possible. Travelling across Nepal consisted of little more than a perpetual cycle of climbs, descents, and river crossings. Crossing rivers caused the intolerable delays that characterised internal transit in Nepal. Where flow was swift, targhat (rope bridges) and sanghu (bridges of wooden logs) were used to cross rivers. Sanghu were used in the winter, whereas targhat were used during the monsoon.2 Regmi (1988) quotes Norman Hardie’s (1957) account of targhat in the Arun Valley in eastern Nepal as follows:

The structure, about one hundred and fifty feet long, was of suspension design and the ropes supporting all the weight were made from green bamboo sticks, which had been split and twisted together to form a rope of about one inch in diameter. At intervals of four to six feet, very flimsy bamboo or creeperstrands were attached to the main ropes, and these strands in turn supported one round wooden pole, on which the traveler must walk.

Targhat are still in use in many isolated parts of western Nepal where steel ropes have not yet been introduced. Hn some places people would hang a rope across a river and slide across it in a basket.3 Though simpler than a targhat, this arrangement is more risky. Landon (1928) summarised the difficulty of transport in Nepal and noted that all transport in the hills is carried out on human shoulders. A good road in Nepal, he claimed, would remain a practical impossibility due to the vast difficulties presented by the mountains. The major trail running from east to west required the labour of a myriad of men and was a constant drain upon the treasury of Nepal. Jung Bahadur (1846-1877) sanctioned three lakh rupees for broadening the artery between Hlam and Doti; the labour used was probably slave or unpaid (Landon, 1928). Hn 1956, the late Toni Hagen photographed villagers crossing the Arun River by hanging from such a rope or swinging in a rattan basket suspended from it.

Although people all over Nepal travelled between villages and towns on mountain trails, very little is known about the conditions of these trails or the difficulties that travellers experienced. From Landon’s written account of missionaries and traders who frequented some of the more important paths, we can make some inferences about the conditions of the trails and the difficulties associated with travelling across the mountains from one place to the other.4 Besides the east-west paths that connected Kathmandu with Doti, Dhankuta and Hlam, there were four strategically and economically important paths (referred to as ‘roads’ in the travelogues of missionaries) in Nepal. Two of them went south of Kathmandu, through Pyutar and Chitlang, to Hetauda. The other two took off north from Kathmandu to Kerung and Kuti in Tibet. The tracks to the south crossed the Mahabharat and Chure ranges before descending to the plains of the Tarai and were not, therefore, difficult to travel on. Travelling north, in contrast, was difficult and, in many places, dangerous. The trails took a person through the Middle Mountains, the High Himalayas and sometimes to the Trans-Himalayan region. The way was scary: trails were narrow, passed steep cliffs and crossed many streams and rivers flowing hundreds of metres below. Two Christian missionaries, Father Grueber and Father Dorville, who visited Nepal in 1662, recorded the tremendous precipices they passed while crossing Kuti Pass on their way to Kathmandu. Many of the trails that passed through the High Himal were hacked out of cliffs. Hn places the trails consisted of mere footholds supported on iron and wooden beams driven into the hillside.5 One traveller described the route to Kuti across the Himalaya in the following manner:

… passing through a fearful gorge where the road crosses the river not less than 15 times. Thrice by iron suspension bridges, and 12 times by wooden bridges, some of which were 60 paces long. At one point the rocky sides of the gigantic chasm were so close that a bridge of 24 paces spanned it. At another, a path was supported along the perpendicular wall of rock on iron pegs let into the face of the rock. The path of stone slabs covered with earth was only 18 inches wide, 1/3 of a mile, and one thousand five hundred feet high above the roaring torrent (Landon, 1928).

The difficulty in walking these trails was not only limited to physical stress; it also required mental courage. Landon’s following paragraph shows how strong one’s nerves needed to be.

The very narrow track lies along the edge of precipices and is continually turning the corners of extremely lofty mountains. Often the yawning gulfs between the rocks are bridged by narrow and trembling constructions of sticks and undergrowth. The traveler shudders to see underneath him immense sheer precipices and to hear the noise of the water tumbling at the bottom among stones. There is one specially difficult point which reduces timid or inexperienced men to terror, and the more they fear long slopes downward over an abyss, and is the more slippery from the dripping waters which continually wash and polish it. It is true that holes have been hacked out upon its surface where a traveler is able to place, if not his entire foot at least the ball of it. But Father Ceorgi does not seem to think that this much reduces the terrors of the passage. The river Nohotha is spanned by iron chains. Here people cross in safety upon the footway of the bridge grasping, on the right hand and on the left, two cables which are riveted into the rock at each end, but the oscillations of this rough bridge are fearful-especially when there is added to them the vibration caused by persons passing at the same time out of the step. Then says Father Cassien, one can scarcely endure the terror. So terrible, he says, is the crossing of some of the chain bridges that many travelers are blindfolded and bound to a plank, which is slung to the cables and maneuvered across by a local expert.

Nepal’s transportation infrastructure as it is described above remained fairly unchanged throughout the 19th century. However, with the extension of railway tracks in Hndia along the Nepal-Hndia border during the last decades of the century, conditions began to change. Ht became easier and quicker for Nepalis to travel east or west via Hndia.6 The travel time from Kathmandu to Morang, for instance, was reduced from twelve to five days via the new route. The growth of railways along the border, while it brought relief to travellers, also stifled initiatives in developing in-country transportation. No serious attention was paid to innovations in Nepal for quicker transportation across the Middle Hills until 1951, when the Rana rule ended after 104 years. According to Regmi (1988), the Rana rulers chose to remain sequestered from the rest of the world and took advantage of the country’s difficult terrain to secure the nation’s isolation. Hnnovations, in general, were discouraged. The Rana family believed that the British would annex Nepal if the country developed economically and pursued its policy of isolation with determination.

Ht was not possible for the people to remain sequestered. They had to move to maintain family and business connections. Himal (1989) provides an account of the number of people on the move: ‘more than 3 million hill dwellers are on the move over the Nepali trails at any time during the trading season from October to May’. As they commute, they have to cross many rivers, which, in the early 19th century, was done by means of simple rope bridges that spanned streams. According to Joshi and Chitrakar (1989) temporary crossings were built with bamboo ropes, twisted vines, and matted fibres and lasted through the rainy season. Strong iron chains built by local blacksmith using local ore were stretched over important crossings to span gorges more than 250 feet wide.8 The name chaksam, which is the name of a village in the upper reaches of the Budhi Gandak River to the west, indicates a place where men speaking Tibetan at one time. Forged cast-iron chains used to support temporary footbridge across gorges. The presence of bridge with links as good as those forged in the early 20th century is testimony to the enterprise as well as the skill of the ironworkers of the 15th century. 9 Where available, chains bridges gradually replaced rope bridges, bringing about a remarkable improvement in river-crossing technology. Some chain bridges are still in use in Baglung; they are maintained by local blacksmiths.

Timber cantilever bridges were another improvement over rope bridges, but were constructed almost at the level of the water and thus were often swept away or rendered useless by monsoon floods. During eighteenth century they were rarely found south of the Himalaya.

Hn the early 20th century Rana rulers imported suspension bridges from Aberdeen, Scotland and installed them at key locations along principal trade routes. The bridges were shipped in parcels, carried over mountains on the backs of porters and installed at important crossings. The first such bridge was probably the one built by Bir Shamsher (1885-1901) in Kulekhani (Sharma, 2056 BS), but views differ. According to Joshi and Chitrakar (1989) the first government bridge was built in 1907 in Khurkot over the Sun Kosi River between Sindhuli and Ramechhap. More bridges were built when the 52-mile long cart road between Birgunj and Bhimphedi was completed in the mid-1920s. The road crossed Churiya Khola and many other streams; about 15 major steel bridges and over 50 wooden bridges capable of carrying six-tonne loads were built. The government of the time pursued a policy of replacing all fords, ferries, rope bridges, and cantilever bridges along major trails with suspension or lattice girder bridges. Two iron girder bridges, one over the Bagmati River to connect Kathmandu and Patan and one over Nakkhu Khola were, also built.10

A modern short-span trail-bridge, which uses traditional skill and optimises local materials, is a hybrid between a traditional chain bridge and a Scottish suspension bridge.11 Suspension bridges introduced steel ropes to Nepal and, in many places, replaced targhat ropes. The one resultant crossing was called a ghirling and became the favoured means of crossing for many communities in the hills and mountains. People improvised by using pulleys to slide along the steel rope. This was a purely local innovation.

When the Prithvi Highway was completed along the left bank of the Trisuli River in the mid 1970’s, it became easy for people living on the left bank between Galchhi and Mugling to commute. Those living on the other side of the Trisuli experienced difficulties. Later, when the road was widened to two lanes, shops, restaurants, lodges and a market for selling vegetables and fruits, emerged for the people who lived along the highway. Villagers who lived on the other side of the river were unable to benefit from these opportunities because there were no bridges or other links that facilitated crossing the turbulent Trisuli to reach the highway.

With no support from the government, the villagers along the right bank built their own means to cross the river. Private entrepreneurs also built ghirlings for transporting stones from the quarry on the right bank to trucks on the highway on the left bank. Along this stretch of the Trisuli River the first ghirling was installed in 1978 while the most recent one was installed in 1994. Hn the 60-kilometre stretch between Baireni and Mugling, there are 18 ghirling, two boat crossings and two improved crossings for measuring river discharge. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology collects data on discharge and sediment concentration using these new crossings in the Trisuli River. The station consists of a cable supported on metal towers and an electrically-operated cable car attached to a winch to measure the velocity of flow.

GHIRLING: TYPES AND OPERATION

A ghirling consists of a steel cable stretched across a river and anchored at suitable positions on opposite banks using stones, logs or trees. A carriage is mounted on the cable and, using wheels or a pulley, is allowed to run along it. Chirling are classified into three types depending on the type of carriage used. Hn the first type, the carrier consists of a pulley or wheels enclosed within a simple housing from which a small wooden plank hangs by two ropes like a swing. This simple device, called a khit-khite, is meant for transporting a single person (Figure 12.1). The passenger sits on the plank, with his/her feet hanging in the air and holds the pulley housing firmly on either side of the cable to ensure its position and to keep it from rattling. To begin his/her journey, s/he lets go off the cable in front of the pulley and the force of gravity causes the person to move forward. While sliding towards the centre of the river, the rider has to make sure that his/her hands are always behind the pulley, which, because it runs very fast, can slice fingers inadvertently placed in front of it. The speed of a khit-khite cannot be controlled. The momentum ceases usually just beyond the middle point of the sag, when the cable goes uphill. From that point onward the rider has to pull the cable inch by inch against gravity. This is tiresome and risky because if the person fails to pull, the khit-khite rolls backwards. The sick and old do not have the strength to use a khit-khite. Many families living on the right bank of the Trisuli River along the Prithvi Highway keep one or two khit-khites for use by their members.

The second type of ghirling has a box-like carrier attached by a hanger to wheels which rest on the steel rope. This type can carry four to five persons at a time. Hts typical method of operation involves the passengers sitting in the carriage and sliding down to the midpoint of the rope, at which point they haul themselves up to the end station by hand. They are sometimes helped by someone on the bank, who pulls a second, smaller rope. Since most cables are strung without much tension, the sag in the middle is great and so, accordingly, is the effort needed to pull the carrier.

Since an operator usually runs this type of ghirling, the sick and old can use it as well. Ht is also safer because the box usually hangs on two pulleys. Passengers pay the operator each time they cross. Although the principle of operation is the same as that of a khit-khite, pulling it is harder.

The third type of crossing consists of a guided raft or boat attached by a rope to a cable suspended across a river and fixed at opposite riverbanks. Using a paddle, the boat is moved across the river along the suspended rope, which prevents the boat from being swept away by the current. This arrangement has a large passenger capacity and is used to transport both people and goods. Hts use, however, is restricted by the nature of the river, which must be relatively calm at the fording point. Unlike a ghirling, a boat allows its users to transport goods to the desired location along the river bank. With or without ropes, boats, especially dugout canoes are used to cross major rivers with goods despite the risk due to their instability. Hn the Sun Kosi River in Sindhupalchok District, people use modern vinyl rafts to transport goods to their villages on the river’s bank as far downstream as Ramechhap.

A ghirling, though itself limited, is an improvement on a dugout because it is quicker, safer and more convenient. Since a ghirling is suspended, the river’s flow does not affect it; and since it can be installed at a higher elevation, a person does not have to spend time descending to and climbing up from the river. But, as mentioned above, the ghirling does have limitations. Some efforts have been made to improve the ghirling, especially the box and pulley arrangements. Hn many places, carriers made of steel have replaced wooden boxes. The growth of the industry that manufactures window shutters and grills in places where electricity is available has made this innovation possible. Likewise, double pulleys have replaced single pulleys, making ghirling more stable. Because iron pulleys of the required si�e are not readily available in villages, villagers use the discarded ball-bearings of old bicycles to improve their khit-khites.

Box-type ghirling use the discarded pulleys of heavy equipment and cranes. Another improvement some ghirling use is an additional rope attached to the carriage that allows people in the carrier, at the end of the line or on the banks of the river to pull the rope, thereby helping

Even in areas where ghirling have been built, people often demand a suspension bridge. A bridge is desirable for several reasons: loaded doko (wicker baskets) need not be pulled, many people can cross at the same time and mules and goats that carry loads can also cross.12 Needless to say, a suspension bridge is also much safer than a ghirling.

SOCIAL IMPACT

Our preliminary study of ghirling along the Trisuli River shows that they do generate local level benefits. The ghirling serves as a social link. Crossings improve social interaction between villages on opposite sides of rivers and have ended the isolation of those on the far side. Hn the study area, the number of people who use a ghirling daily to cross the Trisuli River ranged from 30-40 to 200-250, depending upon the season. On a daily basis, school-going children formed the largest user group. They can commonly be seen carrying a wooden khit-khite in their backpacks along with their schoolbooks. Without ghirling they would have to walk many hours every day to reach school. Hn most sites where ghirling are located, the nearest suspension bridges are located a few kilometres up or downstream.

A ghirling can also, in a very limited way reduce the distance between producers and a market. With markets more readily available, villagers can get better prices for local produce. Without a ghirling, it takes much more time to travel to a market via the nearest suspension bridge. Economic incentives are one main reason villagers use ghirling despite their risks. At eateries and shops along the road, farmers often get ten, twenty or even as much as forty per cent more money for local farm produce than they would in a village haat ba�aar. The prices of other goods they need, such as footwear and clothes, are likely to be similarly ten or twenty per cent cheaper in shops along the road than in village shops.

ACCIDENTS

Despite the fact that little maintenance is carried out on ghirling and that there is significant passenger traffic, there have been relatively few fatal accidents. Hn fact, only three sites have reported serious accidents. The ghirling constructed by Agriculture Fertili�er Company and Hetauda Cement Factory to transport stones from a quarry broke three times (in 1994, 1995, and 1996), but no one was injured. Hn other cases, two people were killed when they fell from ghirling into the Trisuli River and two more died when they fell from khit-khite. Two others who fell into the river survived and swam ashore. The ghirling does have its share of problems. Ht has no safety features such as brakes. The major perils associated with using a ghirling is the risk of getting one’s fingers caught between the cable and the pulley, the risk of falling in the river due to the sudden stoppage of the carriage and the difficulty in crossing during a heavy rainfall or when there are strong winds. The loss of fingers is the most common injury. Hn village of Mastar in Dhading District, for example, 30 of the 300 people have lost fingers and the village has earned the unfortunate appellation of a village of amputees.13 Despite these risks, ghirling are used regularly and provide quick access to villages on the right bank of the Trisuli River. For many villagers the benefits outweigh the risks, especially in the absence of alternative systems for crossing rivers.

MANAGEMENT OF CROSSINGS

The members of a community, who live on the right bank of the Trisuli in the vicinity of a ghirling take responsibility for its operation and maintenance because it is important for them. The ghirling is considered the property of the village that uses it and the villagers themselves fix any damage. No formal body is responsible for its maintenance; instead, villagers set up ad hoc groups whenever problems emerge and donate some funds for its repair. Villagers who live along the highway help, but their role is limited to providing security for the left-bank tie-up post. Only when major damage renders a ghirling non-operational do other villagers help. The arrangement for boat crossings is different. One or two villagers are responsible for operating a boat, and a fee is charged for crossing. A percentage of the total fees collected is paid to the VDC as revenue while the rest is the operator’s income. A similar arrangement is also being replicated for the operation of ghirling. While local villagers are not charged for using a ghirling, villagers commuting from adjoining hamlets are charged two rupees per crossing. The local people help them make the crossing.

IMPROVING THE GHIRLING

Some efforts have been made by private as well as public enterprises to improve the ghirling to make it safer, more energy efficient and more dependable. Others have promoted the use of boats as a safer means to cross rivers. Boats are useful in calm stretches of a river but are risky during the monsoon when rivers are swollen. Four significant innovations are the wire bridge (tar pul) of Eco-Systems Nepal, the improved ghirling of HTDG, the natural-force ferryboat of Royal Nepal Academy of Sciences and Technology (RONAST), and the auto wire bridge proposed by the Robotic Club of the Hnstitute of Engineering (HOE). These are described briefly below.

Wire road and wire bridge (tar bato and tar pul)

Eco-Systems Private Limited, a Kathmandu-based company established in 1996, first began promoting the tar bato (wire road) as an inexpensive, safe, and all-weather form of transport for people and goods in plain areas. The tar bato is an improved

version of the ghirling in which ropes are used to pull a carrier along a spring rod stretched between two points. The carrier has a well-designed wire-bike and comfortable chairs. Depending upon local needs, multiple chairs can also be used. The system can be operated by human power, an electric motor or a gas or diesel engine. Ht can climb a gentle gradient of 35 metres for every kilometre which makes it suitable for reasonably level areas. On a level area, a carrier on a tar bato can carry

50 to 100 kilogrammes and travel at a speed of about 10 kilometres per hour. Hn a manually operated system used for transporting cargo, a person can pull up to 4,000 kilogrammes at walking speed. They have not yet been used in Nepal to carry goods, but banana farmers in countries like the Philippines have used them for decades. A tar bato can be used in the Tarai as well as in valleys, where the transport costs of farmers who currently use tractors or pickup trucks can be reduced substantially.

When a tar bato is modified to cross a river it is called a tar pul (wire bridge). Hn use in Nepal since 1996, a tar pul uses ropes to pull chairs suspended from a pair of spring rods stretched across a river. Chairs replace the boxes used in a ghirling. As of May 2004, 25 tar puls had been installed in Nepal, mainly in the districts of Kavrepalanchok, Udayapur, Lamjung, Myagdi, Chitawan, Tanahu, and Gorkha. The average cost of a tar pul is about US$ 12,000, which, in most cases, were donated by NGOs, individuals, and charity organisations. Hn some places, local VDCs also contributed. To install a tar pul users request Eco-Systems to conduct a survey, which they must pay for themselves. Eco-System then conducts a survey, prepares a design and estimates the cost of construction. Villagers generally arrange to pay 10 to 15 per cent of the cost, and then, on their own, find a donor to support the rest of the cost. Eco-Systems also helps raise funds through its contacts in the US, Canada and Europe. Since its successful introduction, the demand for tar pul has been very high. Hts proliferation has been limited by the lack of funds available. Many requests have had to be turned down due to the lack of donors.

Improved ghirling

HTDG-Nepal has also improved the traditional ghirling. The improved arrangement consists of two pillars that support the wire and a box with a double pulley that slides on the rope (Figure 12.2). Nylon rope is attached to drive the box on either side.

Both single and double wire types are used. The improved ghirling have been installed in five different locations at an approximate cost of Rs 2,500 per metre.

Natural-force ferry boat

RONAST initiated a project to design and build a natural-force ferryboat (NFFB) system in 1988 with support from Japan’s ATCHA and the Open University. The objective of this project was to develop a transportation system safer than ghirling and dugout canoes. The ferryboats were intended to transport passengers as well as goods across a river using the energy of flowing water. The pilot project was implemented in the Trisuli River. The boat is maintained in the correct direction by using ropes suspended from a cable. Besides moving passengers, it allows local people to market agricultural

produce in large quantities: as the time of travel is reduced, vegetables reach markets with no decline in their quality. NFFB were installed in Ghatbesi, Dhading District, and Gaighat, Tanahu District.14

Auto wire bridge

Another improvement has been proposed by a group of student members of the Robotic Club of the Hnstitute of Engineering in Pulchok, Lalitpur. The group has been experimenting with a ghirling operated by gravity since 2001. For the track cable, the group intends to use a spring rod instead of a cable. The proposed auto wire bridge is aimed at ferrying passengers and goods across a river using the force of gravity. Ht is being designed in such a way that the children, the elderly and the disabled can operate it.

The proposed auto wire bridge consists of two posts of unequal heights rather than the level anchors of all other forms of river crossing and bridges. A tall post is erected on one side of a river and a short one on the opposite. The height of the spring rod at the shorter post is fixed, whereas the height at the taller post can be adjusted using a mechanism with a vertical channel in order to create a gravitational force in the required direction. A pulley facing the river, to which the spring rod of the bridge is attached, slides up and down in the channel with the help of a counter­weight suspended through a roller on top of the post (Figure 12.4). The weight of the counter-load can be increased or decreased in order to move the sliding pulley up and down.

When the counter-load moves downward, the sliding pulley moves up, as does the spring rod attached to it. Once the spring rod is higher than the height of the short post on the opposite bank, the suspended rod becomes angled downward towards the opposite bank. The carrier then moves toward the other bank under the force of gravity. Once the carrier is on the other side, the operator reduces the weight of the counter-load by releasing a lock with a control wire. When the weight of the counter-load decreases, the sliding pulley becomes heavy and moves downward. The rod, in turn, shifts to a height lower than the height of the short post on the opposite bank and angles downward in the opposite direction back toward the tall post. Hn this way, the height of the rod at the tall post is changed to angle the rope in the desired direction and help the carrier to move using gravity. Hf the carrier does not reach the opposite end due to friction or wind, a rope attached to the carrier can be used to pull it to the bank.

The prototype is yet to be tested in the field. According to the Robotic Club, the system can be used for a span of between 30 and 100 metres15, thereby making it useful to cross narrow rivers.

CONCLUSION

Despite their ancient origin and widespread use, ghirling, have not received as much attention as other modes of transportation that arrived on the scene much later in Nepal’s history. As has been the case in other development sectors, the transport sector has also suffered from a lack of appreciation of the potential of local people to find innovative solutions to local problems. Villagers had developed local ways of moving about the country but modern development paid no attention to such indigenous systems and instead introduced alien ideas and resources without a thought to their adoption or adaptation by the people. Hn the process, the social carrier of the ghirling-Nepal’s average Ram Bahadur Gaunle-became marginalised. Though not a comfortable means of crossing rivers, a ghirling, because it is inexpensive and easy to build, is an important alternative, especially when no other means of transport is available.

Hn the hills, streams or rivers often separate farmland and villages. Accessing markets, schools and health posts also frequently requires crossing rivers. Even during times of heavy flow and floods, villagers have to cross rivers to carry out everyday activities like farming, shopping, attending school, visiting health posts and transporting farm produce. Where roads exist, one can travel long distances in order to get to a bridge to cross a river, but there are no roads in most places. Ht is unimaginable that in the foreseeable future, roads, of whatever type, will connect every village in Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of villagers will keep using simple devices such as the ghirling. Hn fact, it will remain an important part of rural transport for decades to come.

This brutish aspect of life in rural Nepal has not elicited sufficient sensitivity or sympathy from Nepal’s officialdom. Despite introducing the concept of agriculture roads in the Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) and subsequently, establishing DoLHDAR in 2000, the task of improving rural access remains grossly neglected. The events in Basmadi Village in Makawanpur, where more than 100 students could not attend school because their ghirling over the Rapti River snapped, is a manifestation of such a neglect. Without the ghirling, the residents of Basmadi have to walk four hours to reach Hetauda. When no help came from officials to re-install a new ghirling, the villagers of ward no 7, 8 and 9 of the Basmadi VDC started voluntary work to rebuild it, and managed to get some help from the Hetauda Cement Factory. They are reported as being committed to complete the installation of a new ghirling in one week and to begin commuting.16Unfortunately, the absence of governmental support to facilitate such local spontaneity means that the life of the majority of rural population continues to languish in depravation.

The good news is that the potential of the ghirling has recently received attention from a few private companies and HNGOs, some of which have started work on designing and building improved forms of ghirling. Some of the designs are still beyond the capacity of villagers to install on their own and will make them dependent on outside support. Hmprovements must be incremental if they are to suit the local context that must adopt and adapt to such technological improvements.

Hmproved and standardised ghirling can provide a solution for overcoming difficulties associated with river crossing in many localities. Ht is not a new technology; on the contrary, it has been in Nepal for a long time and people do not have to come to terms with it. Hndeed, a modern ropeway is only a mechanically energised ghirling with additional safety features. Chirlings need to be modernised and made more efficient, safer and more reliable if they are to improve local transport in the hills of rural Nepal and have a positive impact on lives and livelihoods. Ht behooves Nepal’s official planning bodies to widen their hori�ons to incorporate the humble ghirling.

NOTES

2 A sanghu is a small temporary wooden bridge used during the winter but taken out for safety before the onset of the monsoon. It is built and maintained by local communities along main tracks. This type of wooden bridges was replaced by stronger cantilever bridges. Francis Hamilton has described targhat as ‘bridges of ropes made of rattans connected by cords of tough grass’. See Regmi (1988) for details.

3 Ropes are used to gain access to inaccessible cliffs. Eric Valli, a Swiss filmmaker, documented one such use in Lamjung District in Western Nepal, where rope ladders (parang in Nepali) are used to negotiate cliffs to collect the honey of wild bees. Similar ladders are also used in Myagdi District to collect honey. The technique of using a rope ladder to access difficult landscape dates back many centuries.

6 In the second half of the 19th century, the British Raj in India began expanding transport and commu­nication system in order to reduce widespread famine. Roads and railway links were extended. Most railway links connected port cities with the interior of India so as to be able to export raw materials to British industries. At the same time, railway lines were also extended to North Indian cities close to the Nepal boarder. A railway line to Nepalgunj Road on the Indian side was opened in 1885. Assam Bihar State Railway opened its Purnea sections from Kusba to Forbesgunj in 1890. Jainagar and Raxaul were connected in 1897 and 1898 respectively (Regmi, 1988).

7 After Messrs. Martin and Co. of Calcutta surveyed the approximately 23 miles of road between Birgunj and a place called Bichako, it submitted a tender for the construction of a light railway from the border to Bichako. The government, however, was reluctant to connect the Indian system with these new areas. It did not allow the railway to penetrate the country farther than Suparitar near Bhimphedi. Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher favoured implementing this proposal with proper safeguards as it would have reduced the high price of imported rice, the main staple food of the people of Kathmandu. It seems that security concerns were most important than economic efficiency for Nepal (Landon, 1928).

8 Joshi and Chitrakar (1989) suggest that ‘without the help of surveyors and engineers, the villagers would chose the spot where the river cuts the steepest, where the banks were stable. The indigenous chain link bridges used no mortar or cement, and required no tempered steel cables manufactured abroad.’

10 The tracks that connected Kathmandu with the Tarai and the ones that lay on the trade route to Tibet were improved with strong bridges. Iron-lattice girder bridges were built over the Karra River at Karra, the Samari River at Samari near Suparitar and over the Bhainse River. Iron-plate girder bridges were built at Sirsiya and over the Kiyasod River. Bridges over the Dhobi and the Bhimphedi rivers were also built at the same time. Wire rope suspension bridges were built in Chobhar, Sundarighat, Khokana, and Indrayani. Other bridges were built: three over the Sun Kosi, two over the Kaligandaki at Ridi and Ramdighat, one over the Gandak at Trisuli, one over the Tamor at Dhankuta, and one each over the Marshyangdi and over the Lishankhu at Dolakha. Bridges were built over the Chepe, Daraundi, Tadi Ankhu, Rosi, and Likhu rivers. Two stone bridges were built over the Bagmati at Pashupati and at Gaurighat. Another improvement in bridge construction involved using iron beams and stone walls. Such bridges were built at Bhimukteshwar and at Bajra Jogini. Pile bridges were built over the Barhwa and Sirsiya rivers and over the Jhanjh River near Hazmania, as well as at Shankhamul and at Dostea. Wooden bridges were built at Kageshwari over the Betravati River, on the way to Pyuthan at Balkhu, at Dakshinkali, over the Kalinadi River between Bhadgaun and Sanga, at Lamjung near Manbyasi, at Labsey below Benighat, and between Taulihawa and Soharatgunj. In some places strong wooden bridges replaced old-fashioned cantilever bridges. See Landon (1928) for details.

11 Currently two types of suspended trail bridges, long-span (120 to 350 metres) and short-span (65 to 120 metres), are built in Nepal. Every year, about 200 bridges of different spans are built by at least ten agencies. The number demonstrates that the demand is high. Helvetas plans to support the con­struction of an additional 900 bridges in the coming years (Helvetas, 2001).

12 Mules, mountain goats, and yaks are used to haul goods. Yaks or jhoppa, are used at high altitudes. Mules are used to cover longer distances at lower altitudes. Goats are used at both elevations. A mule or a jhoppa can carry about 50 kilogrammes, whereas a goat can carry just 10 to 15 kilogrammes. One major advantage of yaks and mules is that they can cross rivers which flow fairly rapidly, but goats cannot. If there is no bridge over a river, goats must walk longer on the same side of the bank until they reach a fordable section and can cross to reach their destination.

13 See Himal Khabar Patrika, 2002. Accidents are also common in other places, too. Kantipur Daily reported that on 18 July, 2004 three persons drowned while crossing the Mahakali River after the rope snapped.

14 Personal communication with authorities at RONAST. The initiative was supported by ATCHA and Hoso Daigaku (Open University) at Saitama. Also see Himal (1989) for a discussion on the above initiative. 15 Personal communication with the members of the Robotic Club, IOE, Pulchok. 16For details, see Kantipur 2 August, 2004.

REFERENCES

Hamilton, F. B., 1819 (reprint 1971): An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal, New Delhi Manjusri Publishing House, New Delhi.

Hardie, N., 1957: In Highest Nepal, Our Life among the Sherpas, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1957.

Helvetas, 2001: Trail Bridge Section, Nepal Trail Bridge Record 2001, HMG/N, DoLIDAR.

Himal, 1989: How the Majority Travels, March/April.

Himal Khabar Patrika, 2002: Gaun Nai Dundo Banaidine Tuin, May-June, 2002, Kathmandu.

HMG/N, 1988: Asian Development Bank, Kingdom of Nepal, Transport Sector Profile Study, Transport Sector Profile Study Final Report, TECNECON, in association with Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick and EAST Consult, Nepal.

Joshi, P. C. and Chitrakar A., 1989: Bridge-Building and Baglung’s Blacksmith, Himal, March/April.

Kantipur 2004: Tuin Chundera Tin Bepatta, 1 July, Kathmandu.

Landon, P., 1928 (reprint 1993): Nepal, Asian Educational Services, New Delhi.

Regmi, M. C., 1988: An Economic History of Nepal, 1846-1901, Nath Publishing House, Varanasi.

Sharma, D.P., 1999 (2056 BS): Nepal Ko Adhunik Itihas (1742-1961) Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu.

Source: Ropeways in Nepal