Heavy vehicles were unable to ply since Saturday after the flood in Bhatauli river damaged the pillars of the bridge.
The Manthali-Khandadevi-Sitkha road of Ramechhap, which was blocked for three days, has resumed operation since Tuesday afternoon.
Heavy vehicles were unable to ply since Saturday after the flood in Bhatauli river damaged the pillars of the bridge.
The ward president of Khandadevi Rural Municipality-4 Krishna Prasad Paudel informed that the road has been opened temporarily after the repair. "For now, the road has been opened, but the repairs are still pending." If there is heavy rain, there is a risk of being blocked again,' he said.
When the alternative route connecting Khandadevi, Doramba Shailung, Sunapati Rural Municipality and Kathmandu with the headquarters of Manthali was closed, the vehicles were stopped at Khandadevi-4.
Gopal Shrestha, the spokesperson of Manthali Municipality, said that after the repair, large vehicles have been put into operation. 'Vehicle traffic has resumed from today. Now it is expected that there will be regular traffic,' he said. According to him, protection wall construction is still going on in the bridge area through the Infrastructure Development Office.
This 40-meter-long bridge over the Bhatauli river, built under the 'Local Road Bridge Program (LRBP)' with the help of the Swiss government, was built at a cost of about 40 million rupees in the financial year 2071/72. This bridge is considered very important for alternative transport network.
After the Khurkot bridge was swept away in October last year, a bailey bridge was installed there. However, since vehicles weighing more than 15 tons cannot use it, so far all the heavy goods vehicles have been operating through this Bhatauli Bridge.
