KODARI: Continuous rainfall since last night has triggered a major landslide at Kodari in Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality-2, completely blocking the Araniko Highway and cutting off access to the Tatopani border point.
According to Inspector Jagat Bahadur Rai, chief of the Area Police Office in Kodari, a massive landslide occurred around 5:00 AM from the Ikhu landslide-prone area, burying the road under large volumes of debris.
“The highway has been completely obstructed. All vehicular movement and cross-border travel via the Tatopani checkpoint have come to a standstill,” he said.
Bhotekoshi Rural Municipality Chairperson Pasang Nurpu Sherpa confirmed that the landslide activity is ongoing, making road clearance impossible at this stage. “Ikhu has long been considered a highly sensitive area prone to landslides,” Sherpa noted, adding that the site has experienced repeated road collapses in the past.
Following the 2015 earthquake, the Kodari settlement in the area was severely damaged and later deemed uninhabitable. The locality has since been fully displaced, and the area remains under high landslide risk.
Sherpa further informed that discussions are underway between the Road Division Office in Charikot and the local government to assess the possibility and timeline for reopening the blocked section of the highway.
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