Karnali highway obstructed for three days

By Premraj Simkhada,Kalikot, July 7: The Surkhet–Jumla section of the Karnali Highway has remained blocked for the past three days after a landslide damaged the retaining wall beneath the road at Galje in Kalikot district. 

Although a narrow track has been created for small vehicles to pass, large buses carrying passengers, trucks carrying construction materials and food supplies have been stranded on the road for three days.

The Kalikot police informed that heavy vehicles were not allowed to pass after the road collapsed at the same location where a landslide had occurred three weeks ago, and the Road Division Office Jumla had restored it by building a retaining wall. 

Kalikot Police Chief DSP Tek Bahadur Rawat said that repair work is underway. He said, “The entire hillside is rocky, and the retaining wall built from below the road has collapsed.”According to him, the work has been halted since Saturday after the hydraulic pipe of the JCB machine burst while breaking the rocks.

He informed that a large machine is on its way from Surkhet, and the road will reopen only after the upper rock is broken once the machine arrives. “It is uncertain when the work will be completed and the road will reopen,” he said. “Only small vehicles are being allowed to pass in one direction.”

Trader Ratan Mahat said that many trucks carrying construction materials for Jumla and Mugu have been halted at places like Tadi and Bali in Kalikot. Truck driver Rajan Shahi informed that trucks carrying food supplies for Jumla and Mugu have also been stopped along the road. 

The landslide occurred at the cliff near Galje due to rainwater and runoff from Juvitha and Jiulo. As the retaining wall fell on the narrow road, many cargo vehicles were halted. Kalikot Chief District Officer Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that the road condition is not suitable to operate large vehicles to pass.

Chandra Bahadur Gharti, police constable at the temporary traffic post at Khallagadh, said that since Thursday, drivers, co-drivers and passengers tried to construct a temporary wall, but as it was not possible, a machine has been brought in to break the rock.  “We are allowing small vehicles to pass,” he said, “But buses and cargo vehicles have been halted.”

Police informed that vehicles heading from Surkhet to Jumla and Mugu, as well as those returning from Jumla and Mugu to Surkhet via Kalikot and Dailekh, have been stranded. During every monsoon, the highway gets obstructed frequently and travellers suffer.