CHITWAN: The Narayangadh-Muglin Road and Prithvi Highway have been completely blocked due to landslides at several locations in Chitwan and Dhading following incessant rainfall.
According to Dilli Narayan Pandey, Chief Superintendent of Police at the Nepal Police Highway Safety and Traffic Management Office in Ramnagar, the roads cannot be reopened immediately as small and large landslides continue to occur at various locations. He said continuous rainfall has triggered landslides and rockfalls along the highways.
According to Pandey, traffic has been completely halted after the road at Dharapani in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality-4, Chitwan, was completely blocked. Earlier, traffic had been operating in one direction at the location after the road was partially obstructed.
Similarly, traffic in both directions has been halted after a landslide blocked the road at Simaldhara in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality-5. Police said rocks and debris have also fallen onto the road from above at Tuinkhola and Namsikhola in Ichchhakamana-5.
Police have reported minor rockfalls and mudslides at Tuinkhola, Namse Pul, 15 Kilo, and 17 Kilo along the Narayangadh-Muglin road section.
Along the Prithvi Highway in Dhading, traffic in both directions has been halted due to landslides at Krishnabhir and Jyamireghat in Rorang Rural Municipality-7. Pandey said landslides have also affected the road at Jarakhet in Gajuri Rural Municipality-6 and Kamerebhir in Thakre Rural Municipality-2.
He said efforts are underway to clear landslides from the road at Krishnabhir, Simaldhara, Dharapani, Namsikhola, and Tuinkhola. However, as landslides continue to occur at several locations due to persistent rainfall, the highways are not yet in a condition to be reopened, Pandey said.
Vehicular movement along the Narayangadh-Muglin Road and Prithvi Highway was halted last night due to the increased risk of landslides. Police said the restriction has continued since this morning following additional landslides at various locations along the highways.
Gabion wall damaged at Krishnabhir
A gabion wall along the river-facing side of the road at Krishnabhir, where a new track was opened along the Prithvi Highway, has partially collapsed.
Sajna Adhikari, chief of the Nagdhunga-Muglin Road Project (Western Section), said the section of the road currently in operation has not sustained significant damage. However, vehicular movement has been suspended as a precaution due to the possibility of further damage from continued rainfall.
“A small landslide has occurred above the section where the new track was opened. There is no significant problem in the area where we have laid plastic, but a gabion wall below has partially collapsed,” Adhikari said.
According to Adhikari, part of the section between the gabion walls has subsided slightly, but no major damage to the road has been reported so far.
She said a series of small landslides in the Krishnabhir area has made it unsafe to operate traffic at present. A technical team is continuously monitoring the condition of the road due to the ongoing rainfall, she added.
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