CHITWAN: Cargo trucks carrying food supplies to Kathmandu and passenger buses have been stranded after a section of the Prithvi Highway subsided at Galaudi in Galchhi Rural Municipality-5, Dhading, disrupting traffic.
With the highway blocked, drivers and helpers have been forced to cook meals and spend the night on the main road in front of Bharatpur’s central bus terminal.
As Dashain approaches, trucks carrying rice and other essential food items have remained stuck for hours, leaving a long line of cargo vehicles along the main road in Bharatpur.
Driver Bishal Rajput, whose vehicle has been stranded since Friday night, said the road disruption had made it difficult to deliver food supplies on time. Drivers and helpers have been lighting makeshift stoves beside the road to cook meals and sleep overnight.
“Dashain and other festivals mean nothing to us. Being stranded on the road brings extra expenses, difficulty arranging food and a lack of public toilets, which cause the greatest hardship,” Rajput said. He added that they had been collecting water from a nearby tap to prepare meals.
Recalling that he had previously been stranded for long periods at places such as Krishnabhir while travelling to Kathmandu, Rajput said he hoped the highway would reopen soon. Drivers are eager to deliver food supplies before the festival and return home to meet their families for Dashain.
The disruption has also affected passengers travelling to Kathmandu through Chitwan and Dhading. Traffic police at Bharatpur bus terminal have been helping stranded passengers reach their destinations via the alternative route through Hetauda. Police have also arranged refunds of their fares and facilitated travel along the alternative route.
Rajiv Manandhar, an engineer with the eastern section of the Nagdhunga-Mugling Road Project, said a 70-metre-long and four-metre-wide section of the road had subsided at Galaudi, about five kilometres from Galchhi towards Kathmandu.
As cracks have extended to the roadside slope, repair work is underway using five excavators, two loaders and six tipper trucks to cut back the slope and stabilise the road. However, Manandhar said the entire slope could not be cut because a local branch road runs above the highway.
According to Manandhar, efforts are underway to restore one-way traffic by Saturday evening.
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