Traffic signs and road safety equipment placed at various places along the Thudhe Hat-Banchare-Teliya-Parevadin road in Dhankuta have been vandalized. When such signs and road safety equipment are vandalized, drivers are forced to suffer at road sections including Afthayara bend. 

Tirtha Bahadur Limbu of Teliya says that when the sign boards are destroyed, it will be difficult to control the speed of vehicles, accidents will increase during sudden braking, and pedestrians will also be at risk.  The sign boards placed to warn about the turns, culverts, uphill and narrow places on the road section from Tankhuwa Khola to Lamichhanedanda, which was blacktopped only last year and handed over to the provincial government, have been uprooted and thrown away, while some have been destroyed and rendered useless. 

Especially on the Tankhuwa Khola-Lamichanedanda road section under Chhathar Jorpati Rural Municipality-3, more than 2 dozen traffic sign boards are broken, erased and lying on the roadside. When these road signs are damaged, the risk of accidents has increased as passengers and drivers are not aware of the road conditions.

Traffic signs placed for road safety provide advance information to drivers about curves, downhill, uphill, narrow roads, school areas, bridges and risky places. Traffic experts say that in the absence of such signs, the chances of accidents increase, especially at night, during the rainy season or for unfamiliar drivers.

Acting Chief of the Infrastructure Development Office, Dhankuta, Uttam Narayan Kharel informed that action will be taken against the culprits after monitoring the cases of uprooting, breaking and erasing traffic signs. He said that destroying materials related to road safety is a violation of the law. He said that the repair and rehabilitation process will be taken immediately. 'Broken and erased traffic signs are being restored, those that can be repaired are being repaired and put back in place,' Kharel said, 'Legal action will also be taken against those who commit such acts of vandalism.'

Chhathar Jorpati Rural Municipality Chairman Chhatra Bahadur Subba said that the destruction of public property is unacceptable. He warned that action will be taken as per the law by searching for those involved in such activities.

'Public property is the common property of all citizens,' Chairman Subba said, 'We request the concerned bodies to take action as per the law against anyone who damages and destroys it.'

Locals have complained that although the road has become easier to travel on with the blacktop, the risks have increased due to the neglect in protecting road safety structures. They have said that the local community, police and concerned bodies should increase joint monitoring in protecting structures such as traffic signs, dividers, railings and kilometer signs placed on the road.