The solar lights installed on the road section from Bhedetar to Sindhuwa along the Koshi Highway have become inoperable. The solar lights on the road and the final boundary indicator have stopped working in many places.

The solar system recharges and provides light at night. This makes it easier for drivers of vehicles and transport vehicles to estimate the final boundary of the road. The solar lights installed in the Bhedetar Mulghat, Rudrabari, Dhankuta Bazaar and Hile areas of the Koshi Highway have been vandalized, broken and damaged in some places. They were installed by the Division Road Office.

In particular, the solar lights installed on the potential accident roundabouts and roadsides have been broken, uprooted and thrown away in many places and have become inoperable, said Ramesh Kumar Goit, Information Officer of the Division Road Office, Dhankuta.

The structure of such solar lights installed with the aim of showing the final boundary of the road has been damaged, and they have not been able to give the signal they should have effectively. As seen in the picture, in some places, the lamp posts have fallen and some have been completely destroyed.

Information Officer Goit said that the solar system technology is not very durable on the road. He said, 'If the solar technology does not work, it will be finished after two to four months. After the road repair work is completed, we will install lights to provide warning information using another technology.'

Such solar lights were installed in an area of ​​about 60 kilometers from Bhedetar to Sindhuwa to guide drivers in fog and darkness. These structures were installed with the aim of reducing accidents by showing drivers a safe route on narrow roads, cliffs and difficult turns.

But now, as most of the lights have been destroyed, local drivers say that it is difficult for drivers to estimate the actual condition of the road at night. Gyaljen Sherpa of Sankhuwasabha, who has been driving a truck on the Dharan-Dhankuta road, said that the risk of accidents increases due to the ineffectiveness of solar lights and traffic signs. When there were lights, vehicles could be driven according to them even when there was fog at night. But now those lights are nowhere to be seen.

Manoj Chamling Rai, a driver from Zero Point in Dhankuta, says that there is a risk of accidents due to the lack of solar lights and traffic signs that mark the end of the road. Rai says that the risk of vehicles going off the road increases especially during thick fog when such signs are not visible. 

Not only solar lights, but also traffic mirrors, warning boards and information signs placed at roundabouts, two-way and four-way intersections are in a dilapidated condition. Motorcyclist Bhuwan Khatiwada said that drivers are having trouble getting the necessary information as most of the mirrors are broken, the boards are torn and the signs are unclear.