Landslides obstruct movement in Bajura

Bajura, July 25: Movements of Bajura people have been affected after the Sanfe-Martadi road section got obstructed because of landslides at several places. After the road section from Bajugard to Martadi of Sanfe-Martadi was damaged at multiple points by the landslides triggered by continuous rain from July 21 to July 23, bringing vehicular movements to a complete halt, locals have been facing difficulty to travel. Landslide have fallen at Bajugard, Tapri Sera, Balde, Amkot and other areas of Sanfe-Martadi road section, informed District Police Office (DPO), Bajura.

Bajura DPO’s Information Officer Rabindra Kathayat said that although the road at Bajugard, Tapri Sera and other areas was repaired, the debris piled up at Amkot and Balde were yet to be cleared.

According to him, locals had been facing problems while travelling to the district headquarters Martadi after the road damaged at Balde could not be repaired.  Likewise, the road from Martadi to Kolti had also been blocked. The vehicles moving from Martadi to Kolti had been halted at Martadi in lack of a bridge above the Bauli stream, said Kathayat.

Meanwhile, the long-route buses and trucks heading to Martadi had been stranded at Betalmandu because of the landslide at Bajugard, said Bir Thaha, a ticket counter staff at Balde.

He said that the locals were also facing difficulties after the landslides at Gaumul of Badimali, Himali, Jaganath, Swamikartik and Budhinanda municipalities of north east region of the district damaged the road. 

Dhana Bahadur Rokaya, a local businessman of Budhinanda Municipality, said that he had to suffer a lot while transporting goods since the vehicular movement along the Martadi to Kolti road section came to a standstill.

He added that the prices of the goods in Martadi had risen after the vehicular movement along the Sanfe-Martadi road section got halted.

Meanwhile, Martadi businessmen informed that the prices of goods went up as they had to mobilise porters to transport the goods.

Works to repair the road could not begin because of continuous rain in the area. “We are planning to repair the roads by using excavators as soon as the rain stops,” Chief District Officer Prakash Chandra Adhikari said.