The Rapti Highway has been closed daily for six hours from Sunday to allow road upgrading and blacktopping works along the Chorkhola–Ramri section in ward 3 of Kapurkot Rural Municipality, Salyan district.

The closure was announced through a public notice issued by the Road Division Office in Dang and the District Administration Office in Salyan. According to the notice, the road will remain closed daily from 11am to 5pm until June 15

The Road Division Office said that regular traffic on the Chorkhola–Ramri stretch had been hampering the effectiveness and timeliness of the ongoing roadwork.

Dipendra Bahadur Bista, chief of the Road Division, said that the planned construction work could not progress as scheduled due to vehicle movement along the 4km section. “Travellers have faced hardships throughout the year. To prevent continued suffering, we decided to close the road daily for six hours to ensure the work is completed on time,” said Bista.

He added that although the road division had previously closed the section multiple times for the same purpose, the work could not be completed due to weather constraints. With monsoon yet to begin in the area, the office hopes to finish the blacktopping work within this window.

Bista urged small and emergency vehicles to use the alternative Paiyakhoria–Satabas–Kimchaur–Kapurkot road. The division said the road is narrow and risky but has been repaired over the past two days to allow safer passage for light vehicles. “The alternative route cannot support large vehicles. So, passengers and goods carriers using bigger vehicles will need to wait during the closure hours,” he said.

Bista also said that frequent landslides during the rainy season and limestone-carrying tipper trucks from a nearby cement factory had slowed progress. However, gravel has already been laid, making movement slightly easier.

Salyan’s Chief District Officer Sabitra Pun said the Road Division had requested to close the highway starting *June 6, but permission was denied until the alternative route was improved. “We approved the eight-day closure only after the road was repaired and made passable,” she said.