Landslide triggered by incessant rains has blocked a road near Sapatakoshi Bridge connecting Sunsari and Udaypur districts thereby halting vehicular movement and trapping thousands of passengers for the past three days.

The incident occurred on Tuesday when a large mass of soil tumbled from Krishna Veer (cliff) and 17 number Veer blocking the Chatara-Barah road section. Passengers heading from Dharan to Bhjopur, Dhankuta, Udaypur and Barah Chhetra have been left stranded due to the landslide. Barah Chhetra is a popular pilgrimage in the east. 

"The new Saptakoshi Bridge connects Sunsari and Udaypur. The road was always in risk due to lack of adequate measures to control landslides," said one local Raju Ghimire.

According to him, vehicles heading towards Udaypur and Barah Chhetra have come to a grinding halt for the past three days due to the landslip. He added that locals have cleared debris to some extent and formed a temporary path for pedestrians.

Due to the road blockage, people travelling for Dashain Festival are facing hard times reaching their destination.

A local Ramesh Bista said that there are landslips in half-a-dozen places along the Chatara-Barah road due to incessant heavy rain. Bista attributed government's apathy towards the miseries of the travellers.

According to Ghimire, it was failure on the part of political parties and other stakeholders to not give proper attention to the road that is regarded as an alternative highway. "When government has already spent millions of rupees for the construction of the new bridge, why couldn't it focus on upgrading the road in this region?" he questioned.