CHITWAN, Sept 12: Laxmi Gupta, who was travelling to Kathmandu from Bara, has been stranded at Ramnagar of Baharatpur Metropolis in Chitwan since Monday night. It was due to traffic jam caused by landslides which have blocked the Narayanghat-Mugling road at several places.

The bus he was travelling in had returned to Ramnagar after it could not proceed toward Mugling due to landslides. 

At around 1 am on Tuesday, landslides in various sections of the road completely halted traffic along the road. 

The landslides were triggered by heavy rainfall that started from Monday evening. “I got stuck in the traffic at Dasdhunga. I was at Dasdhunga on Monday night but reached Jalbire only on Tuesday at 10 am,” said Karma Tamang, a bus driver. 

Tamang, who has been working as bus driver since the past 25 years, said vehicles have been facing traffic snarls regularly ever since the expansion of Narayanghat-Muglin road started several years ago.

“It is understandable to get stuck in traffic snarls while the road expansion was going on. But poor quality of work that weakened the soil around the road has been inviting frequent landslides,” said Prabin Rokaya, who assists a truck driver. 

Engineer Shiva Khanal, information officer of the Narayanghat-Mugling Road Project, said big landslides have fallen at Char Kilo and Gainghat. “As the landslides are big, it is taking longer to clear the debris and reopen the road,” he said. 

According to District Traffic Police Office of Chitwan, big landslides occurred at six places including Bhorle, Satra Kilo, Jalbire, Chepang Dada, Kalikhola and Char Kilo. 

Landslide debris were removed from a four-kilometer length of the road from Mugling Bazaar to Char Kilo by Tuesday evening. Authorities are working to remove the other landslides.

Narayanghat-Mugling road is highly prone to landslides. The disaster strikes the road section every monsoon. 

 
• landslide
 
• Narayanghat-Mugling_road