Due to the lack of timely landslide management, plastic has been laid on the highway for a month under the leadership of the District Administration Office. As the Road Division Palpa did not carry out landslide control work on time, the risk of all roads collapsing into the river has increased with the onset of rain.
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The problem of landslides at three places on the Palpa-Butwal road section along the Siddhartha Highway has not been resolved for years, causing difficulties in traffic operations. The problem of landslides at Tinau Rural Municipality-5, near Masyam Churchare and Gaude Bridge, Tinau Rural Municipality-3, near Bhootkhola and 3 near Bismail Bridge on the highway has not been resolved, causing problems in traffic operations.
The Siddhartha Highway is at risk due to the failure to control the landslide that occurred two years ago near the Bismile Bridge in Dobhan Bazaar in time. Local resident Bishnu Prasad Pandey said that the risk has increased due to the failure to control the landslide that occurred two years ago while widening the highway from Dobhan Bazaar to Nuwakot, Kachal, and the western part for the construction of a concrete bridge and a newly constructed box culvert leading to Chunmaya Park.
The same landslide swept away the culvert leading to Chunmaya Park as well as the concrete bridge built on the Tinau River, and the problem has worsened as the number of landslides has increased even during normal rains. The problem has worsened as landslides with rocks and soil have increased along the highway during rains. The road division has laid plastic to protect the highway. The road infrastructure development office of the Lumbini Province Government, Palpa, worked without coordinating with the road division, which is why the north-south highway is in danger.
‘The highway is now in danger because the budget was allocated based on accessibility without assessing the risk,’ said Keshav Khatri, a local from Tinau. ‘As the risk increases, there is a concern that the bridge over the Tinau River will also be damaged.’
A landslide has also occurred from the upper part towards the Bismail Bridge. Rampukar Jayaswal, the head of the Road Division, Palpa, informed that a study is being conducted by the Road Department through a consultant to control the landslide. ‘We had requested the department to study all three landslides,’ he said. ‘Accordingly, a study is being conducted at the site where the landslide occurred and the area where it was submerged.’
The Siddhartha Highway is at risk because the landslide that occurred three years ago between Churchre and Gaudepul in Tinau Rural Municipality-5 was not controlled in time. Due to the failure of the Road Division Palpa to manage the landslide that occurred in Dumrekhola from the Siddhartha Highway in time, vehicles have been forced to operate on the road in one direction only.
Due to the failure to manage the landslide in time, plastic has been laid under the leadership of the District Administration Office for a month to protect the highway. Local Karan Sar informed that the failure of the Road Division Palpa to control the landslide in time has increased the risk of all roads collapsing into the river with the onset of rain. 
The Road Division Palpa had awarded a contract to repair and improve roads at various places on the Siddhartha Highway in Mangsir last year. Bhagwati Construction Butwal was awarded a contract with an estimate of Rs 4.2 million to manage the landslide in the Churchre area.
A solution has not been found for 8 years since the road collapsed near Dobhan Bhutkhola, Tinau Rural Municipality-3, along the highway. It is now at risk after collapsing again during blacktopping in the same place last Ashar. Local Tanka Basyal said that since the Road Division does not find a sustainable solution to this, vehicles are always forced to operate at risk.
Road Division Chief Jayaswal said that this time the study is being done through expert consultants of the Road Department. The Road Division had stated that it had started blacktopping in the Bhootkhola area only last year. The Road Division Palpa has stated that the road has collapsed again after the blacktopping was not completed on one side. At least 25 meters of the highway has collapsed. There is a Tinau River at the lower part of the road that has collapsed.
Even though the same road has been repaired and two-way traffic has been operated, the risk remains. In the past, vehicles were operating on one side after the road collapsed at this location. More than 5,000 vehicles travel daily through the Siddhartha Highway, from the Tarai to Gulmi, Palpa, Syangja, Kaski, Arghakhanchi, Baglung, Parbat, Myagdi, and Mustang.
