The tourist buses will now be allowed access through the under construction Narayangadh – Muglin road stretch during the daily routine closure. 

Chitwan's Chief District Officer (CDO), Narayan Bhatta, issued an instruction for access to tourist buses and asked any vehicles carrying tourists to inform the local authorities. 

The tourists heading to Chitwan have diverted to other destinations during the period when the main road remains closed from 11 am to 3 pm. This has prompted the tourism entrepreneurs in Chitwan to press the local administration to issue the instruction. 

Tourist entrepreneur, Suman Ghimire, said as the elephant festival is just around the corner the closure of the route will create a big problem. Chitwan's Police Chief, Deepak Thapa, said the buses carrying green number plates are now being escorted by the police through the road. 

The narrow road stretch is currently being expanded due to which it is closed routinely for work, Narayangadh Muglin Road Project engineer, Shiva Khanal said. The routine closure will continue for the next four months, he added. 

The routine closure from 11 am to 3 pm on a daily basis started on December 22. The road project has appealed to the drivers to use alternate route during this time of the day. 

The road expansion which started in April, 2015 will be completed by April next year. The Narayangadh Muglin Road Project is being undertaken with support of the World Bank and Nepal India Regional Trade and Transport Project under an investment of Rs 2.9 billion. The road stretch will be widened from 9.5 metres to 11 meters at various sections. Engineer Khanal confided that only 33 per cent of the work has been completed against the earlier plan of completing 50 per cent by this time of the year. RSS