Hilsa-Simkot road section blocked by snow for months

By Our Correspondent,Humla, Mar.30: The Simkot-Hilsa road section of the Karnali corridor has remained blocked for the past three months.

The road that connects the Yari and Nara regions of the corridor has been blocked after the area received heavy snowfall in January.

Concerned stakeholders have not paid attention to clearing the road even in March end.  Sonam Lama, a resident of Namkha Rural Municipality-5, said that the Yari Hilsa road had been blocked since last January, and it has not yet come into operation. 

He said that the road has been blocked for a long time because the Rural Municipality and the Hilsa road project office have done nothing to clear the snow accumulated on the road by using a JCV. 

The security personnel and residents have faced problems after the road was blocked by snow. 

Police Inspector Pramod Bista of Border Outpost of the Armed Police Force in Hilsa said that the road could not be reopened due to the accumulation of snow up to one kilometre of road in the Nara area, which is 4,600 metres above sea level. 

Inspector Bista said that as snow had accumulated up to three feet in the section, the road could not be cleared without using JCVs.

He also said that the road leading to Hilsa has been damaged in many places by the avalanches. 

He said that currently security personnel from Hilsa were coming on foot to patrol the Nara area, but the transport service could not be resumed, he said.

Namkha Rural Municipality has been claiming that opening the road is not their responsibility. It falls on the shoulder of the project office of Hila-Simkot," said the Rural Municipality Office. 

Bel Bahadur Nepali, head of the road project office, said that the road in the section was still under the construction phase, so the road construction company needed to correspond for snow removal to their office soon. 

It is possible to remove the frozen snow from the road only by using the machine, otherwise, the road will remain shut until May when the snow melts.