Siddharth Highway: Risk in every rainy season

This time on July 7, after this section was flooded again, a diversion has been made to operate the traffic. A sustainable solution has not yet been found. Head of Road Division Palpa Baburam Sapkota said that this diversion was done in a different way than the previous diversion. "On the advice of geotechnical engineers, stones have been placed in the grid at the place where the vehicles move," he said, "otherwise the diversion would not have been completed." The diversion was suppressed within a few hours.

He said that the diversion was also a problem due to the poor geography of the wall and bottom of the road. But this is also a temporary solution for vehicle operation. Since more than 40 crores of budget has been spent on the snow road, the way to stabilize the road has not been found yet.

Under Ramdi-Pokhara road section of Siddharth Highway, Galyang Municipality-11, Tulsibhanjyang and Galyang Municipality-3, Galyang Bazar in Syangja, the highway was washed away two weeks ago . After the rain flooded the highway, hundreds of vehicles had to travel at risk. According to the road division, vehicles were diverted after the road was washed away. According to the Galyang police station, the ground has washed away from the shore of the stormy river in the lower part . The road is operating one-way due to the efforts of the local level .

These are some examples . The risk of when a big accident will happen is at various places in Palpa and Syangja under Siddharth Highway. Highway travel is more risky towards Palpa than Syangja. 'It has been traveled for years but it has never been resolved,' said Mahesh Bhattarai of Galyang Municipality in Syangja, 'I wonder when the attention of the concerned body will come to this.' , Paithedanda, Jhumsa Lamedmar, Pani Mill, Sisuwa and other places have been flooded for years. But the solution has not been found yet.

The road has also been washed away in Tinau-5's Snow Dekhola, Gittikhani, Kalimati, Tansen-8's Gaudepul, Dumre. Rambha Rural Municipality-3, Peepaldanda's Sita Hill area has also washed away the road. The road is one-way due to landslides in many places. Shyam Ghimire of Tansen Municipality-11, Bandipokhara said, "There is a situation where not only the vehicles are in operation, but also the passengers have to suffer." Must be short . Recently, the vehicles from Pokhara to Mustang pass through this highway. After the road upgradation starts, even the vehicles going to Pokhara via Narayanghat go back and forth through Palpa-Syanga. "It takes a long time to go to Pokhara from Butaw via Narayangadh and the condition of the road is also bad in the last year," said Pitambar Bhattarai, a truck driver, "The traffic has increased more recently." There has been a situation of suffering even when using this road.

The roads of Kadambas, Headbox, Nag Mandir, Paithedanda, Jhumsa areas of the Siddhababa highway have been flooded for years. It has not been managed sustainably. There is a problem of road flooding in Bhootkhola for 10 years . The situation is the same in Lamedmar, Pani Mill and other places. In some places, not only three months ago, but even two years ago, the landslides have not been cleaned . Dev Khanal, a passenger of Ribdikot-4, Bhairavasthan, said that only one-way traffic is being operated when the landslide is not removed and the road is flooded.

After nearly 60 meters of the road was washed away in the snowfield of Palpa under Siddharth Highway, GAVN grid is filling up in the area where the vehicles are moving.

"Due to the one-way and washed-out roads, the road department does not care about the increase in travel time and the risk of accidents," he said, "We don't know when the highway will be improved." Winter, rain is always the same. Smriti Basyal of Bagnaskali Rural Municipality-6, Yamgha also says that traveling becomes a problem when the rainy season starts. "Hundreds of vehicles run on the highway every day," she said, "but no sustainable solution has been found to prevent landslides." There is a complaint. Overloaded vehicles have damaged the road. The problem of getting damaged again within a week of repair is the same .

The vehicles cannot reach their destination on time due to trucks carrying up to 16 wheels . "Due to landslides and washed-out roads, it is not possible to reach the destination on time when traveling through Siddharth Highway," said Shrestha, a farmer from Wamitaksar, Musikot Municipality, Gulmi. After all, it is not the passengers who will suffer.' Many places on the highway have been hit by landslides. The Roads Division does not spare time .

Most of the daily vehicles cannot reach their destination on time during the rainy season . Although there are roads connecting most of the districts of Gandaki province, Palpa section has the most problems. According to Durga Gautam, Information Officer of Road Division, Palpa, a contract has been signed for the construction of supports and walls in the lower part of the flooded road. "In some places, contracts have already been awarded in the previous fiscal year," he said, "Preventive work has been done in Hindekola in the past as well." Other locations will be worked on during the current financial year.'

photos : Madhav Aryal/Kantipur

Passengers traveling to Syangja, Parbat, Gulmi, Baglung, Myagdi, Parbat, Kaski, Mustang via Palpa via Siddharth Highway will find this road short. So many travelers choose this highway. Most of the passengers coming from India travel through this highway. At least 5,000 vehicles pass through this highway every day. The risk of landslides has increased on the highway even if the roads are widened randomly but no drains are made and retaining walls are not installed. Tansen Municipality-6 Nayagaon, Janapriya Mavi's last part has been washed away. Mani Gayre of Tansen-6 said, "The initial environmental test has not been done to widen the highway. Home schools are at risk due to widening the road randomly."

If no preparations are made to reduce the risk during rainy season, he said, the passengers will have to suffer every year on the Palpa section of the highway. Due to the lack of timely solution to the problems seen in the highway area, the problem of blocking the highway even during normal rains has been the same for years.

The road department's study has shown that water is flowing from the ground in places such as Nidhekhola, Sitapahad, Bhootkhola. Geotechnical engineer Madhusudan Acharya said that the water should be drilled from the bottom and the road should be built in the upper part only. He has been working as a consultant from the road department and said, "The road has been studied". But it is not known that the work has proceeded accordingly.'

After being assigned by the road department, Acharya, who came to the place where the river overflowed in winter, said that the first thing to do is to extract the water by drilling . After that, he suggested that gavion wall, retaining wall, drain construction etc. should be done. After seeing the problem of road flooding, the road department has studied the Siddharth highway from Chidiyakhola to Ramdi, but it has not been implemented.

branch road widening indiscriminately, the road division does not clean the drain regularly, ignores even when the culvert is completed, and due to the stones and mud flowing from the upper area, there is a problem of mud, stones, gravel coming on the highway and the lower part being flooded .