For the past few days, the problem has been compounded by landslides on highways and roads where traffic is high. Passengers walking home are staying in the middle of the road.
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The number of passengers going home for Dasain is increasing. Passengers are exiting through various checkpoints in the valley. For the past few days, the problem has been compounded by landslides on highways and roads where traffic is high. Passengers walking home are staying in the middle of the road.
On Monday night at 11 o'clock in the night near Jawang river in Dhading under Nagadhunga-Muglin road, traffic was blocked. 16 hours after the landslide was removed, vehicles were brought into operation in two directions on Tuesday afternoon, but the risk has not disappeared. Due to the heavy traffic, the landslide has been removed only to bring the vehicles into operation. Kedar Prasad Nepal, the head of the western section of Nagadhunga-Muglin road project, said that there was a problem due to landslides in new places.
"Before the landslide of Tuinkhola under the Narayangadh-Muglin road could not be removed, there was a problem due to a landslide in Jawang River, one and a half kilometers from Mauvakhola towards Dhading," he said. Keshav Prasad Ojha, head of the eastern section of the ongoing Nagadhunga-Muglin road project, said. "There is not much problem in this section, machines and technical manpower have been deployed in the potential risk areas of landslides," he said, "Even if small landslides have occurred, there is no problem, two-way traffic is in operation."
More than 15,000 vehicles pass through this road every day. During the journey, the passengers are forced to travel in fear when landslides occur in places. Passengers who had gone home for Dasain have been stranded at various places in Dhading and Chitwan since Tuesday. Landslide prevention has not yet been done in the Tuinkhola section of the Narayangadh-Muglin road.
Due to the problem of landslides, the traffic is opening and closing. The section, which was closed from 6:30 pm on Friday, was opened one-way on Sunday and two-way on Monday. Traffic has come to a standstill after a huge landslide occurred in the same place on Tuesday afternoon. According to the road department, there is no situation to avoid the landslide on Wednesday. As a result, the District Administration Office Chitwan has requested vehicles to use alternative routes. According to Prabhat Kumar Jha, Deputy Director General and Spokesperson of the Road Department, work is being done to remove the landslide from both sides.
Why is the risk of landslides increasing in Tuinkhola? Subhraj Neupane, the head of the Federal Road Supervision and Monitoring Office, says, "The geographical structure is very complex and difficult in the section from Muglin to Narayangadh." According to him, one of the reasons why the problem of landslides in the Narayangadh-Muglin road section is increasing every year is the effect of the 2072 earthquake. Last year, the example of two passenger buses running into Simaltal on this road section is enough.
Another reason is that it has been found that there are hills that have been damaged during road expansion and are falling in new places. "There is still a risk in Tuinkhola, we will start a study on the cause of the problem after bringing the two-way road into operation," he said.
According to Jha, the spokesperson of the road department, the Kodari section of Arani highway has been operational since Monday afternoon. The department says that there is no problem now. The road section was blocked since July 17. As a result, the Tatopani border was blocked.
With the opening of the road, goods for Dasain have started coming in from Tatopani crossing. Narayanadatta Bhandari, Head of Road Division Office, Dolakha, said that the road is a road where large and long containers travel back and forth. "The road has been opened, we are still working on improving it as it is a road used by large containers carrying goods," he said, "Containers coming to Nepal with goods from China have started crossing this road." But if there is heavy rain, there is still a risk of landslides. The Project Office has informed that there is no problem in the Narayangadh-Butwal road section, where the passengers were suffering after the
and especially during the festival. When it rains in this section, there is a problem of vehicles slipping and stopping when going uphill. Vijay Jaisi, Director General of the Road Department, said that machines and technical personnel were deployed to solve such problems immediately. According to him, there is no problem on the BP highway either. Passengers traveling through the BP highway were killed when the flood that occurred in October last year washed away 12 km of the road. Around 10,000 vehicles pass through this highway during Dasain.
The road department has suggested Narayagadh-Mughlin road as an alternative to Tribhuvan Rajpath's Naubise-Hetounda, Kanti highway's Satdobato (Lalitpur)-Bhairav Mandir-Bagua-Lendanda-Hetounda, Kaligandaki Corridor's Gaindakot-Palpa Rampur-Bhimad (Tanahun), Firkekhola-Dhadingbensi-Salyantar, Arughat-Ambukhaireni, Pokhara-Butwal road has been requested to be used as an alternative.
Saroj Sitaula, senior vice president of the National Federation of Nepal Transport Professionals, said that there is a problem in getting passengers to their destinations on time due to the roads. He said, "The vehicles have not been able to come or go, the vehicles carrying passengers have not been able to cross Muglin, they have stopped in the middle of the road due to landslides," he said. "Right now, the biggest problem is due to the Tuinkhola landslide," he said, "It's December, there is a lot of traffic going home, the government machinery is working to build road infrastructure, but still there are problems." About two million passengers leave the valley after Dasain alone.
